An Orthodox in Azerbaijan: A CK Dynasty Take 3 - COMPLETE

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, let's try this one more time. This time, I'll be making a minor change. I will immediately pledge allegiance to Byzantium.

I make the same moves with my country and I propose to the same wives as before.

This time, both marriages take effect. We are now married to Adelais of Normandie again, and my son is married to Mariam. Again.

February 15, 1067 - We are now the vassal of Byzantium.

With their backing, I immediately DOW Dwin.

March 22, 1067 - Our forces arrive in Dwin and begin the assault.

March 28 - We are expectting a child.

March 30 - We have won in Dwin and begun the Siege of Dwin.

THey offer peace for 6 ducats. I say no.

April 28 - My liege agrees to peace with Dwin for a few ducats just as fellow troops were about to arrive and help us with the siege. Dumb move.

This is I hate being a vassal.

I get an event:

Now Might be the Time to Begin Considering my Future Relationship with my Liege.

I choose to remain content for now.

I gained the loyalist trait. Yuk.

[Abe Sargent]

June 8, 1067, Our Emperor, in his esteemed idiocy, thinks our battle tired trrops newly arrived home from a war he shouldn;t have ended would be best served going right back to the front lines against the Turks. I don;t want to do that.

I'll wait for a bit and see if something happens to make my decision better.

The King of the Turks has 4000 men besieging Vaspurakan next door to us, and you want me to join in? Stupid.

I wish my county's forces were big enough to do a siege on their own. I could mobilize, then sneak behind enemy lines and snatch a province or two.

July 25, 1067 - I decline to do so. They now have a legitimate claim to my throne and can attack me if they desire.

The archbisopric of Mesopotamia has gone independat from Byzantium, taking their vassal with them. Smart - no longer at war with teh turks.

Aug 1 - After not getting the message the first time, idiot 17 year old Michael, Emperor of Byzantium agains requests our mobilization. I again wait.

September 18 - OVer 8000 turks has captured Vaspurakan. No way am I tangling wit that. I'll let Michael's request just linger and die, without response from me.

Sept 28 - Vaspuraken falls into the hands of the Turks permanently. I am now completly surrounded by Muslems on all sides.

Oct 7 - Once again a herald annouces teh arrival of a messanger from Michael. This guy is begging for our small mnumer of troops. Nope.

My son becomes a Tough Soldier

November 28 - The Turks captured Taron.

Nov 30 - I have a son named Ashot.

Dec 8 - Another proposal comes in from Michael. This guy is an idiot. Each time I reject, the loyalty drops.

Taron is now under the Turks control completely.

Feb 22, 1068 - Our son had a son, Gagik. Gagik is currently second in line o the throne of Georgia.

Mar 5 - We are expecting again

We pay to have a bishop placed in our court. We appoint him Diocese Bishop.

We currently have around 525 army, and we need more to besiege provinces with a chance of victory.

The Turks have taken Chaldea. They are hammering Byzantium.

Apr 7 - We have now lived longer in this game than in the previous tries. Our emperor keeps demanding troops and I keep saying no.

[Abe Sargent]

May 13m 1068 - We get an event:

You Have United With a Fellow Vassal by your Devotion Towards Your Liege. I have three choices.

I choose - With Us Together, Our Realm Stands Fast. My count gains honest trait.

Trapezous is permanetly taken by teh Turks. That's four provinces they've gained.

Actually, it looks like they have also taken Prusa, Ikonion, and Alexandretta. Ouch. Byzantium is getting blasted quickly.

Jul 27 - Karin falls to the Turks

Aug 26 - I get a vassal event regarding a fellow vassal's disloyalty. I chose to ignore it.

Nov 5 - We had a son named David.

Jan 4, 1069 =- The Turks have taken Ani and Karin in war spoils. I now have three Turkish provinces to my west and north instead of three Orthodox provines. We are deepely in Islamic territory now.

Feb 4 - We are expecting again.

I choose to raise Ashot myself.

Byzantium has captured Chaldea and Trapezous. Maybe they can win this war and stop asking me for troops.

August 1 - My son has fallen in love with his wife. I have to choose an option, and he accepts it. His wife is now one of his friends.

Trebizond declared independence and is now in a war with Byzantium.

We have discoverd an old ancestral claim on Kahketi.

I send an assassin attempt agauinst Giorgi,count of Tao, the only son of the king of Georgia. He's had a daughter so far, and I don 't want him having any boys. If our first exapnsion is by fouls means instead of fair, I'm not going to lose any sleep.

It fails, and we are not discovered.

Oct 1 - We send another assassin against the Count of Tao. We have a much better intrigue than him.

It suceeded, but we were discovered. Our grandson is now the direct heir to teh throne of the Kingdom of Georgia.

Our Peity and Prestige plummet from the discovered assassination, but I'll take it.

[Abe Sargent]

October 26, Our son, David, was killed by assassins from Georgia. I accept that. He killed our thirdborn son when we killed his only male heir. A trade I'll take.

Oct 27 - Byzantine oforces capture Ani.

Nov 2- We have a daughter and name her Mira.

Nov 12 - I get an alliance offer from the Archbishopric of Mesopotamia, down to one province but at peace. I accept.

The Turks have captured Adana. Looks like all of their armies are there, leaving behind the provinces that Byzantium recaptured. They need to sue for peace soon.

Nov 27 - Hovannes and Miriam have a second son, naming him after his father. He is second in line for Georgia.

If/when the King of Georgia dies, and he's 31, I can pull a Machiavelli. I commit suicide and have my son do so also, immediately combining the thrones. We only do that if our grandson is old enough to rule.

Dec 28 - Armenia Minor just was annexed by the Turks, giving them Adana and Lykandos permanently.

Its Jan 1, 1070, and a lot has happened in four years. This is a busy place.

[Abe Sargent]

When the war ends, I'll give you a new map.

Because of dying Orthodox provinces, some courtiers have fled to our court. I get a 14 diplomat, a 10 steward, and so forth.

I now have better courtiers at three levels, the only original courtier still around is my brother as Marshal.

Our army is close to ready again. I have 1060 troops ready to fight for the greater destiny of our people.

I don;t have as much money in the bank as I would have liked after two assassination attempts, but its enough for a minor war.

I have fallen in love with my wife. I agree to do so. I gain the chaste trait. She becomes a friend.

With a near full army, where do I go, if anywhere?

Kartli - One province Kartli is two provinces away from us, and adjacent to three Georgian provinces - good for when/if I take the throne. They have more troops than us.

Azerbaijan - Two provinces, one next to us. They have a lot more troops than us.

Itil - One province jewish nation near top of Caspian Sea. Five provinces away, practically no army at all.


None are that good. I'll hold for now,

[Abe Sargent]

April 24 - The Byzantines bring the former Trebizond province of Theodosiopolis back into their territry. They;d better hurry though, the Turks have almost recaptured Ani.

May 1, Ani is can taken by siege,

6000 Turkish troops are in Theo.

July 25 - Theo is recaptured by the Turks

For a bit, the Byzantines had recaptured momentum, but no longer.

[Abe Sargent]

The Principality of Coloneia is now a free state, off Byzantium.

If Coloneia, Mesopotamia, and us, the Byzantine states East formed a four province country, we'd be okay.

Nov 1, Chaldea and Trapezous have been freed by the Turks.

Nov 30 - I send my daughter off to be raised by local barons

The Principality of Antioch has left Byzantium and taken their two vassal with them. Again, if the Christian states out here formed a new country, with a smart leader (like me) we'd be golden.

Our ruler, Michael Dukas, is lazy, vengeful, arbitrary, weak willed, with a stutter and a hopeless spender. He's not the savior of the purple. (Byzantium is purple on the maps)

Kartli has joined the Turks, leaving us no nearby one province Islamic state to poach.

Itil, which is a little away, might be our best bet for expansion. I'd have declared war against them, but I can't march my troops there.


Its Jan of 1071.

Feb 8 - My wife is expecting again.

Feb 17 - My son has another daughter, naming her Sirvart

April 1 - Byzantine recaptures Alexandretta

April 6 - The Turks decalre war on us.

Uh oh.

I mobilize.

I am not at war with any of the Turk vassals, just the daddy. I can't get my military to Trapezous, where the nearest Turks are.

I DOW Vaspurakan. If I can take it quickly, I have two provinces to help protect myself against the Turks.

I march my troops to them

May 3. 1500 Turkish troops arrive in Azerbaijan and begin marching. I tell my troops to return to Suenik for defense.

Turkish emissaries arrive. They demand all of our gold for peace. I accept. Yeah, it was a wussy thing to do, but we need to be alive.

[Abe Sargent]

All of the nearby muslim states have decided to join the Turks - that includes Azerbaijan, Derbent and Albania. We are now literally surrounded by the Turks. Not just Muslims, but the Turks.

Jul 13 The Turks have taken Galatia, Amisos, and Sinope.

Colonneia stupidly rejoined the Byzantines, who are getting eaten alive. The Byzantines have taken back Prusa

Jul 19 - Grigor, Count of Suenik has died. Hovennes Senek'erim is now count.

We are now one generation away from Georgia, if we can survive taht long.

[Abe Sargent]

Forget the war, let me get you a map right now.



I outlined the Georgian provinces for you. The giant orange-yellow blob are the Turks. Purple are Byzantines, so we are that purple province way out there on our own.

Itil is that red province at the top of the Caspian Sea. Mesopotamia, our ally, is the blue province two directly west of us.

[Abe Sargent]

Actually, our alliance did not survive the leader change, and Mesopotamia hooked up with Aleppo.

Aug 21, 1071 - The Turks again DOW me. Not that I can blame them. There are about 4000 Turkish troops in adjacent provinces.

the King of Georgia is 53. If I can hold out long enough for him to die, I commit suicide, and my son takes it all. I mobilize my troops,

[Abe Sargent]

Sept 23 - 4873 troops arrive to fight our 1350.

Oct 14 - Our army was routed, but we managed to kill over 1500 Turks.

The Turkish Siege of Suenik has begun.

Three things can save us now:

1). The Turks do not have a claim on us, so they just take the money in our bank like last time.

2). Byzantine and the Turks come to peace.

3). The Georgian king dies.

None of these are in our hands.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 18 - Suenik falls.

Nov 26 - The annex us.

GAME OVER AGAIN. ARGH.