MTW--Daneland Uber Alles

[Lokugh]

Well, while we all (okay, some) await Rome:TW, I thought I'd try my hand at a TW:VI dynasty. I am using Medieval Total War: The Viking Invasion. I am playing on Normal level, since I am a wuss. As the title implies, I am, of course, playing as the Danes (although this might actually be a more interesting dynasty if I played as say, the Germans, and tried to ensure the Danes won, I am not doing so...I shall leave that to someone like Godzilla or Kodos).

This is my first attempt at dynasty writing, so we shall see how it goes. I will probably not be doing each turn as it occurs at the beginning. Once things get interesting, I will. Enjoy!!

Lokugh

[Lokugh]

It is the Year of Our Lord 1087. King Olaf I of Daneland rules from Roskilde Castle, having finally united the Danes under one banner. King Olaf is a moderately accomplished king:

Influence: 4
Piety: 3
Dread: 4
Command: 4
Acumen: 4
Natural Leader

Our nation, at present:

Treasury: 8000 florins
Army (not including the royal's units): 1 unit of Vikings and 1 unit of Spearmen.
New Provinces: None

King Olaf has two fine young sons, Olaf and Erik, ages 12 and 8. He also has a daughter who is still in the nursery.

The strategic situation is thus:

Germany: The Holy Roman Empire lies to the south, bordering us with their province of Saxony. Rumors indicate that they have an army of about 300 in Saxony, but we are certain they have more men ready to respond to any attack, or perhaps to annex us. Our first order of business diplomatically is to ensure a peaceful southern border.

Scandinavia: Our cousins the Swedes, Norwegians and Finns are all still disorganized, and our first step will be to reunify the Northlands under Our banner.

Our first step will be to build a Watchtower in Denmark, so we can be certain what we face. We will also be building a small army to conquer Sweden. We plan to build several Viking Landsmen and Archers, by which point, Prince Olaf should be old enough to lead them to victory.

[Lokugh]

It is 1090 A.D. As mentioned last, we have begun building our army. We have added an archer and two units of Viking Landsmen. We also built a Watchtower and a Spearmaker in Denmark.

Our nation, at present:

Treasury: ~7200 florins
Army: The army has grown.

Sten Hunger commands the garrison of Roskilde Castle, composed of 1 unit of Vikings and 1 unit of Spearmen.

King Olaf is currently training our Swedish Army in the fields of Denmark.

New Provinces: None

News:
1. Germany is the most powerful Army. This is disappointing, if not unexpected.
2. We have received emissaries from both the Germans and Hungarians. We have made alliances with both. Germany is our main concern, dimplomatically, which relieves us of some concern. Having Hungary friendly costs us nothing, as we share no common concerns.
3. IT'S A BOY!! Prince Knud was born in 1089. We have great hopes for him.
4. LET IT BE KNOWN: Lord Stenkilsson has been named Earl of Denmark, today, January 1, 1090 A.D. His acumen and leadership will be invaluable in building Daneland to the greatness we are destined for (further, it is hoped the oath he has sworn will keep the treacherous little toad from fomenting rebellion, but you did not hear that from me).

[Lokugh]

This will be an important year for Daneland. Over the winter Prince Olaf acheived his manhood. This spring he will lead our Swedish Army into Sweden to subdue our barbarous cousins. Our spies tell us the Swedes have only a small force of 120 vikings, under the command of Anund Stenkilsson, a distant cousin of our own Earl of Denmark.

We plan a family reunion, as we cannot spare the Earl and his Landsmen from the upcoming battle. However, it has been made clear that he will take his orders from Our son, Olaf, or he will join his cousin the Swede on the gallows after the battle. We still do not trust that little toad. Our spies have told us of his contacts with both the Germans and the Norwegians and we will not tolerate any rebellions.

News: Both the Poles and the Aragonese sent us greetings and begged our eternal friendship. We pledged it to both. Perhaps if the Poles think us friendly they will harass the Germans and keep them busy while we consolidate Greater Daneland. The Aragonese are like the Hungarians, we share no borders and will not for any forseeable future, so keeping them friendly is of no consequence.

Economic News: We have begun expanding Roskilde Castle. Our loyal retainer Sten Hunger is supervising the building of a Keep. It is expected to take eight years, but We are content with the current progress.

[Lokugh]

SUCCESS!! Our Beloved Son Olaf lead our Swedish Army, composed of 120 Landsmen and 120 Archers into Sweden. The cowardly rebel army fled to Norway rather than face Our forces in the field.

News:

1. We have ordered a Fort, Watchtower and Port be built in Sweden. We expect the first two to be completed by 1093, but the port will take some years longer.
2. LET IT BE KNOWN: Sir Ingge Skeggjason has been named Earl of Sweden. His acumen will be useful in building the province and its revenues.
3. We have held our Swedish Army in Sweden, to maintain order. We hope to be able to move on to conquer Norway in a couple of more years.
4. IT'S A GIRL: Our Queen has presented Us with another child. Although this one is a girl, We are sure she is doing her best and We pretended to be happy. Ahh well, perhaps We can marry her off to that toad Stenkilsson, to keep an eye on him.

[Lokugh]

Much has happened in these three years.

News:

1. IT'S A BOY!! We knew Our Beloved Queen Ingebourg had it in her. In 1093, she has presented Us with Our fourth son, Valdemar. We have great hopes for this one.

2. 1094 was a banner year for diplomacy. The French and Russians approached us for alliances, and we said yes. The French are of no concern, but the Russians will be Our next target once We unify Greater Daneland, so keeping them unwary is good. Further, the Byzantine Emporer sent Us an emissary. This emissary not only brought Us an offer of alliance, which We accepted, but news that Byzantium had just acheived its newest wonder...something about indoor plumbing...and was being hailed world wide as the most developed nation in the known world. We were polite, but We think the Byzantine Emperor would be better served not to advetise his wealth. Some of Our neighbors are not much beyond being highway robbers.

3. We have begun to wonder about Our wife. We have left the naming of Our inconsequential (read "female") children to her. It seems she has named both of them Ingebourg, after herself. We now avoid the women's palace except for Our weekly connubial visit. Our mistresses are more sane.

Another symptom of Our wife's infirmity seems to be coming out in our more consequential children (read "male"). Prince Erik reached his manhood, and if the boy has a chin, I can't see it. Further his older brother, Our current heir, Prince Olaf, has just completely lost his mind. Spies among his servants indicate he has seven toes on one foot. This would not really be a problem for Us, as We feel the state of one's foot should be a concern only for one's cobbler. However, it seems to be also affecting his mind.

In 1095, the Royal Idiot and his two Noble Companions, the Earls of Sweden and Denmark, took it upon themselves to abandon the suppression of rebels in Sweden and take Our Swedish Army into Norway. We were able to shift troops from Denmark to Sweden to compensate, but we were most perturbed.

Battle: In April, 1095, the three fools, aka the Royal Idiot and his two Noble Nincompoops, lead 260 men into Norway to face an indeterminant number of Norwegians. They were indeterminant because the fools failed to send spies in first. So they were a bit surprised to see 360 viking berserkers heading their way.

Fortunately for Our Swedish Army, Our son is luckier than he is incompetent. The Norwegians and Swedes making up the rebel army were split into two different and widely separated groups. This allowed them to be defeated in detail.

This leaves Us in control of the Scandinavian Pennisula, with nowhere to go but south until We build a navy. We have named Our most loyal servant Ragnavald Skottenung as Earl of Norway. He is the best of Our three Earls, and the most loyal.

We are now certain. We must look for a replacement for Our Noble Earl of Denmark. Our spies report he was behind the unauthorized move into Norway. As soon as We can find someone to trust as an emissary, We will be removing him as Earl and sending him on a suicide mission. In the meantime, We have removed most of his troops (to reinforce Our Earl of Sweden's battle losses) and left him in Norway, away from any easy communication with his allies.

[MrBug708]

Woot!

[Buccaneer]

Chief Rum, this brings a tear to our collective eyes, you think?

[Chief Rum]

Chief Rum, this brings a tear to our collective eyes, you think?

Yeah, this is great. If he starts doing long-winded battle replays or encyclopedic-style posts about his rulers, I'm going to have to file for copyright infringement, though. :)

Great read so far, Lokugh. Keep it up.

CR

[korme]

Reading as well. Made me get an itch to fire up Total War again.

[Lokugh]

Glad you all like it.

Chief Rum, I am willing to steal from anyone, but I'm too lazy to copy your style< g >.

[Lokugh]

The next five years are quiet militarily. We still do not have a navy, so our only possible military move is south, towards the Holy Roman Empire, and, well, quite frankly they frighten Us.

NEWS:

1096-- IT'S A BOY!! Yes, Our Beloved Queen presents Us with Our fifth son, Harkenud. Those bull liver shakes must be doing Us good. Also, We receive good news that those sluggards in Sweden finally managed to build a fort.

1097-- IT'S A BOY!! We are most pleased that Our Queen has presented Us with Our sixth son, Christoffer. We are most studly in the bedroom, We must say. Especially for a 51 year old. Oh, yes, Our Earl of Sweden also sent Us a lovely drawing of his new Watchtower. Nights are long in Sweden, apparently.

1098-- Our Queen disappoints Us by not having another child. We are not amused. However, Our most loyal servant Sten Hunger finally completes the expansion of Roskilde Castle into a keep. We will need it with all these children. We immediately command him to build a Royal Court, trading post and boatyard. We need the revenue and We need to build a Navy. And We need the emissaries.

Also in this year, the Italian Doge sent an emissary, one Father Sarducci. Quite a humorous man. We pledged the Doge our undying friendship, and that was the last we have heard from them. Also, a wandering sage dropped by to tell Us of the great might of the Germans. On a personal note, We began having nightmares of hordes of black uniformed troops rolling across Our Southern Border again. We ordered Our Beloved Son Erik to hunt down the itinerant sage and behead him.

1099-- This was a quiet year, with only the news that Our Earl of Norway finally completed his fortifications. We have heard disturbing rumors about Our Earl of Norway. It seems his fondness for his troops perhaps exceeds the normal bounds of comradely affection. We shall watch him most closely. While We do not mind that sort of thing, Our Holy Mother Church frowns upon it, and she can be a terrible shrew.

1100-- We celebrate 1100 with the dedication of a Royal Court in Denmark. This will allow Us to build emissaries. We need these so that We can find wives for Our sons. Perhaps if We marry the Royal Idiot off, he will settle down. Or not. We may need to remove him from the Succession.

In other news, Our eldest inconsequential child turned 16 this year. We immediately sent her off to marry Lord Stenkilsson, Our Most Treacherous Earl of Denmark. In his latest escapade, His Toadness managed to wangle the Royal Council to name him Earl Chancellor of Denmark while We were off on a hunting trip. By the time We returned, he had made himself so indispensable that We were unable to remove him. Yet. We will watch him however.

Finally, another wandering sage brought Us news of the wealth of His Majesty, the Holy Roman Emperor. The sage was immediately beheaded. We do not need news like this.

On a Geographical note, we continue to be frustrated that Our armies seem to be unable to cross the Arctic Circle. Each year, hundreds of reindeer herders (not to mention several thousand reindeer) wander from northern Sweden and Norway to Finland and back. Yet Our generals seem unable to follow them. We are most displeased.

[Lokugh]

Well, things look bleak for Daneland. We have run out of money, and despite stopping all building, We are still running a slight negative balance. This forces Our hand. We now have no choice but to declare war on the Holy Roman Empire.

NEWS:

1101-- Ingebourg the Elder (to differentiate her from Our other daughter, Ingebourg the Younger), married His Toadness. Hooray.

1102-- Another damned wandering sage stopped by to tell Us how wonderfully advanced the Byzantines were. Yeah, yeah, We beheaded him too. One day they will learn to only bring us good news.

1103-- Nothing much happened, except that our shipyard was completed. We ordered longboats be built.

1104-- His Toadness, the Royal Chancellor and Earl of Denmark, came to Us today to inform Us that We were unfortunately overdrawn in the Treasury. We advised him to fix this problem.

1105-- Our Beloved Son, Prince Knud, became a man today. We gave him a nice cavalry troop. His tutors tell Us that he is quite intelligent and well versed in strategy and tactics. This is good, because he has just been chosen to lead Our Southern Army into Saxony.

It seems The Toad was unable to fix our monetary problems. We have stopped all building projects, and thus have no Navy to distribute trade goods and allow us access to Finland and Russia. Thus we face no choice. We must raid the Germans next year. Our nightmares have started up again. We have also sent emissaries out looking for a bride for the Royal Idiot. We shall see what fruit that bears.

[Chief Rum]

Glad you all like it.

Chief Rum, I am willing to steal from anyone, but I'm too lazy to copy your style< g >.

lol, that's no surprise. Tolstoy would have been too lazy to steal from my style. :)

CR

[Lokugh]

Well, so far so good. We have completed the conquest of Saxony, and the Germans have not counterattacked yet. We are still having nightmares, however.

NEWS:

1106-- Our Beloved Son, Prince Knud, lead 400 men into the German province of Saxony. This violated Our treaty with the Germans, but, really, did His Majesty the Emperor really expect Us to keep that treaty any longer than it suited Us? Of course not. Prince Knud's second in command was his elder brother, the Chinless Prince Erik. Bad blood on his mother's side, I am certain. Fortunately, despite his limited intellectual gifts, Prince Erik has a sunny disposition, and did not seem to mind playing second to his baby brother. That's good. Otherwise, We would have exiled him to Norway with the Royal Idiot. The Germans, with their small garrison of 180 men, fled behind the walls of the local fort. Prince Knud settled in for a seige.

We also received missives from the Russians, Aragonese, Poles and Byzantines. Apparently no one really liked His Majesty the Emperor anyway, and they all pledged their undying support. Which meant they were keeping their alliances with Us, but weren't sending Us any troops to do the dying. About what we expected from our neighbors, the bastards.

1107-- The Seige of Fort Saxony continues. Small losses on our side, but we expect the Fort to fall over the winter.

1108-- Saxony falls to our troops. They managed to burn down the fort before they left, but we pillaged 500 florins from the ashes, so that put us back in the black. Further, the tax revenues from Saxony put us back in a positive cash flow. So, we are looking good.

Our fourth son, Prince Valdemar, became a man and received the normal gift of a cavalry troop. Like his elder brother, Erik, this boy too has no chin. Fortunately, Prince Knud is better than all the others. We quite dote on that boy.

In bad news, some rebels have sprung up in Saxony. They claim to be freedom fighters, trying to return the province to the HRE, but We know rebel scum when We see it. We advise Prince Knud to deal harshly with them.

1109-- 300 Rebels, under the command of a former German nobleman by the name of Philip Von Stassel, attacked Our Southern Army in Saxony. After a brief exchange of missile fire, the Germans charged and our Viking Landsmen and Royal Knights destroyed them, capturing most of them. We were going to execute them all, but His Majesty offered Us a rather attractive ransom of 1180 florins, so We decided to repatriate the scum.

Our Most Loyal Earl of Sweden has begun work on a Copper mine. This should only improve our financial situation. As a reward, We send him some new pastels, so that he can make more drawings. It seems to keep him calm.

1110-- We begin to think the German military prowess has been overstated. We had sent Our third inadequate son, Prince Valdemar, to Saxony to aid his brothers. We were glad we did, when in this year, Emperor Conrad II himself takes the field against Us by invading Saxony and attacking Our Southern Army. His force of 460 men is numerically superior, but woefully mismatched. We crush him and send him fleeing from the field. Unfortunately Our forces were not able to capture him (he was well mounted) as his ransom would have been spectacular.

Our first ship has begun building. We have also begun building some additional units and moving some south to reinforce our Southern Army. We have sent our daughter, Ingebourg the Younger, with a peace offering (herself) to HMtHRE. We shall see if it bears fruit.

In family news, the King of France declined to wed his daughter to the Royal Idiot. We cannot say We blame him, even if she is nearly a spinster. Ahh well, We see the Poles have a sweet, clean teenaged princess gallavanting around the HRE. We decide to propse marriage to her. We send her a picture of dashing Prince Knud, and tell her it is the Royal Idiot. By the time she figures out the difference, it shall be too late. We will hope she is gullible. We have sent the Royal Idiot south to reinforce our Southern Army. Perhaps he will catch an arrow in the inevitable German counterattack. Our spies report he was overjoyed to get out of Norway.

[Lokugh]

lol, that's no surprise. Tolstoy would have been too lazy to steal from my style. :)


You said it, not me ;)

After rereading my reports, I think I have figured out the style I am copying, however unintentionally. http://homepages.nyu.edu/~amw243/diaries/ . We will not discuss what this might or might not say about me. We are, after all, the King.

[condors]

good writeup

i really like this game (although i never got any of the expansions)

[Lokugh]

Condors,

I played Shogun Total War and MTW and got the Viking expansion for MTW. I admit to never having actually played the Viking campaign the expansion adds, but I have found the features and units it adds to the Medieval campaigns were well worth it (at least after the patch. The unpatched version of VI had a bug that caused all kings to die at 54, which was annoying).

[condors]

my main issue is i can still play mtw without the expansion and i feel there are more for me to do with (i haven't even played some of the choices yet)

it takes me months to play 1 game (if i get past the inital issues of neighbors looking to knock me out early)

[Lokugh]

Ok, try the second. I had this all typed up, then hit send and it disappeared. Very annoying.

NEWS:

1111 - Our Beloved Fifth Son, Harkenud, matures and gets the normal gift. Our Most Loyal Earl of Sweden sent us news that he has finished his copper mine, bringing in additional much needed revenues. Good news.

We have also received word that Our Second Inconsequential Child, Ingebourg the Younger, has conned the Crown Prince of the HRE into marriage. We do not know how she did it, and, frankly, We do not care. This marriage has ended Our brief war with the Holy Roman Empire and begun a new alliance. Hooray for Us! This new alliance forces Us to choose between being allied with Germany and France. It seems the French have foolishly indulged in a two front war with the English and HRE. Since we do not share a border with France, and do not expect her to survive the decade anyway, We advise His Majesty of France that Our "Undying Friendship" has died. C'est le vie.

As a reward for her dilligent pursuit of her Royal Duties < snigger > we have ordered that Princess Ingebourg the Younger will no longer be known as Our Second Inconsequential Child. She will henceforth be known as Our Seventh Most Consequential Child (after her six brothers, of course--Editor). Quite an honor for her. We are sure she is pleased.

1112 - Our Sixth Son, Christoffer, matures and gets the usual. He is Our best general (five stars--Editor), and is dispatched along with Prince Harkenud to take command of Our Southern Army.

In other news, we receive not one, not two but three wandering sages. The first brings us the expected news that Byzantium is the greatest. Yada, yada, yada. The second brings Us news that the Hungarians are the happiest people on Earth. Well whoopee! We wonder just how hard it is to make Hungarian peasants happy. We think His Majesty of Hungary should try keeping a half a million blood crazed Viking berserkers happy, and see how well he does.

Finally, the third sage brings Us rumors of the Alexiad. Supposedly it is a history of the Byzantine Empire that extolls the virtues of His Imperial Majesty of Byzantium. Pfaugh. We could do the same if We locked up Our Sister in a tower and advised her she would not see the light of day until she wrote a puff piece about Us. Byzantines make Us sick to Our stomach. Needless to say, all three sages were featured guests of Our newest Public Entertainment, "Remove the Head from the Sage". It is sort of the opposite of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey", but using axes instead of pins. It is a huge hit with the 18 to 35 demographic.

1113 - Bitter news this year, His Majesty of Poland declined Our proposal to marry his clean sweet daughter off to the Royal Idiot. Sad to say, We cannot blame him. Ahh well, We have Other Plans for The Royal Idiot and His Almost as Stupid Brother Erik.

In other news, it seems Our Earl of Sweden is getting recognition for his building program. We are happy to hear he has a new hobby, as his artwork is execrable. We are also happy to note that Our first ship, DNS Olaf I, was launched. However, one ship does nothing for Us and we are out of money to build a second just now. However, this financial difficulty does have a silver lining. It is now clear to the Royal Council that the Noble Toad, Lord Stenkilsson, Earl of Denmark and Chancellor of Daneland is incompetent. We have begun the process of removing him from office, but it will take time for Our emissary to return from Krakow, so we will have to stumble along (actually, Lord Stenkilsson acquired the "Chinless Wonder" vice and is no longer any good to me--Editor)

1114 - SAD NEWS!! It is Our sad duty < snicker > to report the deaths of The Royal Idiot, I mean Crown Prince Olaf, and his brother Prince Erik. It seems they received news that the rebel provice of Pomerania was desirous of joining our great state of Daneland. The noble princes thus rode to the capital of Pomerania with an escort of only a half dozen knights. There, they were set upon by some six score of rebel soldiers and killed. We have ordered Prince Christoffer to lead a punitive expedition to crush these rebels (and, incidentally, claim Pomerania for us). This leaves Prince Harkenud (four stars--Ed.) in command of Our Southern Army. We have also ordered Prince Knud to Roskilde Castle. He will need intense training before he is ready to assume his duties as Crown Prince. However, he is the most brilliant of Our sons, so We expect he will be up to the challenge.

In other news, another wandering sage brings us news of the continued prowess of the German Armies. We have met the German armies in the field and were not impressed, so We held another Public Entertainment. It seems the International Guild of Wandering Sages has complained to His Holiness the Pope about Our innocent fun with their members. Unfortunately for their envoy, the Holy Father had just received the sad news from three other sages that Rome was no longer the richest, most powerful and most well-developed city in the world. He was a bit miffed and seems to have infringed on our copyright by beheading the Guild Envoy. We wonder if We can sue God's Representative on Earth for stealing Our intellectual property? :D We are so very proud of Our Holy Mother right now.

1115 - OH NO!!! It seems We are dead. This disappoints Us greatly, as We were only 66. However, We lived long enough to ensure a proper successor. We are quite happy with Crown Prince Knud's progress. We shall enter Purgagtory happily. Our Son must take up these chronicles now. So be it.

[Lokugh]

Condors, if you are still having fun with the current MTW, then yeah, I guess it doesn't make much sense to get the expansion. It is fun though :)

[Lokugh]

Our Father is dead. As it seems he maneuvered both of Our Royal elder brothers, Erik and Olaf, into getting themselves killed, it seems We are now King. Long Live Us!!

We have taken time to peruse Our Beloved Father's journals and we have discovered many things that make his decisions clear. We are unsure why he chose to use this style in his personal writings, but We feel honor-bound to continue. As such, We have a few housekeeping announcements:

1. Our former Earl of Denmark, Sir Emund Stenkilsson, has been stripped of his title. This was Our Beloved Father's final act as King.

2. We have promoted Our friend, Marcus Sturlasson, to be Earl of Denmark. We expect his administrative and financial skills to greatly improve our financial status.

King Knud III

Age: 26

Influence: 5
Piety: 1
Dread: 4
Command: 4
Acumen: 5

Mastert of Numbers
Honest

He is Unmaried.

[Lokugh]

For the last 15 years, We have been dedicated to shoring up Our economy. We hesitate to criticize Our Beloved Father, but his economic policies left something to be desired.

We were forced to institutute draconian industrial controls across Our domain, in order to ensure we had could get Our finances on solid ground.

1116 - Our brother, Prince Christoffer, following the orders of Our Beloved Father, lead a punitive expedition into Pomerania. The cowardly rebels there fled the provice, leaving Our armies in control. He appointed Angmar Hunger as Duke of Pomerania. While we agree that Angmar, who is the brother of Our chief architect, Sten Hunger, is a most worthy candidate, we feel Our Brother has overstepped his authority. It is always so difficult for one's siblings to understand the necessity to bow down to one. We order his wife and young daughter imprisoned, in hopes this will provide an educational example for Our younger brother.

In personal news, Our Father was most remiss in not securing Us a wife. We therefore appropriate one from amongst Our noble families, marrying one Ingrid, daughter of Our Earl of Sweden. She is quite presentable, and is always eager to demonstrate to Us her skill in Swedish massage. We are well pleased.

1118 - The French send Us an emissary, begging Our assistance in their now three-front war (English, HRE and Aragon). We laugh at him. We also receive news that Germany and Hungary are at war. We decide the Hungarians would make better neighbors than the HRE, so We advise His Imperial Majesty that We are unable to continue to support him. We are sure he was most saddened by the news.

1121 - We receive news that two more of Our erstwhile allies, the Byzantines and Italians are at war. We decide to support the Italians. The Byzantines are always so smug.

1122 - DNS Knud III is launched, granting us access to the ports of Friesland and North Umbria. Now, if We only had any trading posts. Our economic woes continue.

1123 - IT'S A BOY!!! We are most pleased to see Our Beloved Queen Ingrid doing her job and producing sons for Us. Prince Sweyn is born.

1124 - The French emissary comes back and We laugh at him again.

1125 - We suppose the International Guild of Wandering Sages thinks We are softer than Our father, as they resume sending Us sages. This one lets Us know that the Egyptians are now the most advanced. While We are pleased that the obnoxious Byzantines are learning the harsh lesson that fighting a war on three fronts (Italy, Turkey and Egypt) is a bad idea, We are still distressed that We are not most advanced, so We commission a new episode of "Cut the Head Off the Wandering Sage". Our people are so pleased.

1128 - We get a Fort built in Pomerania. That's nice. We wanted to build a trading post in Denmark, however.

1129 - The British send an emissary to ask for an alliance and we agree. The heathen Almohads do the same and get the same answer.

1131 - The Holy Roman Emperor dies. It's about time. Ludwig IV takes the throne and sends Us an emissary. We suppose that he believes that just because Our sister, Ingebourg the Younger, is now his Empress, that we will blithely dump Our alliances with Hungary and England in order to ally with him. We apprise him of the realities of real politick as practiced in Scandinavia, and send him packing.

In economic news, we have managed to finally get trading posts built and have commissioned a third longboat, DNS Knud I (after Our great-grandfather). We expect it to become active in 1133. We now have trade income flowing in, which is quite helpful.