Jon's Crusader Kings II Blog

OK, literally ruled by a newborn. I raise a bunch of money by ransoming prisoners. I set up a betrothal, looking 16 years down the line, but am instantly subject to Marta's second revolt. Guess I shouldn't have ransomed her. I use my treasury wisely and am winning that one, when the King of Denmark decides to have another go at Sweden. I think I have to put down the revolt as my first priority. So I give away another county and fight until my treasury is almost gone, but Marta is back in jail. Here I lost some of my updates, but basically, when I was 3, Norway invaded, two people tried to usurp the throne of Sweden and one the throne of Noridarke. I gave away a county to Norway, and held out until I was 10 before my first cousin once removed, Count Bror, took Norway from me, and I was left as Queen of Noridarke. Well, at least I am down to one revolt. For a few months, before I'm up to two. Somehow, I get a white peace offer out of one of them, and I get to put the re...

Well, this is difficult. My first queen, betrothed to her 12-year-old cousin. My cousin, Prince Bror, is the heir for now. Let's see what happens next. And...my weakness means I have to accept autonomous vassals. I have enough of a treasury to put down any attempts to disrupt my rule directly, but I think I will save it for emergencies. And...there it is. The King of Denmark thinks he sees weakness, and invades. And...I am maimed and captured in battle. And...my regent accepted the peace offer, losing a province. And...a Norwegian duke sees weakness and attacks, just after I let my armies stand down. And...Duchess Marta tries to claim the throne for herself. At least since the duke was claiming one of Marta's territories, that ends the previous war. And...I win the war while pregnant. Things may be turning around. Or maybe not.

OK, what do I do now? Well the first thing is to figure out who my heir is. I for some reason married my aunt, who is 17 years older, and no longer of childbearing age. We have one daughter, Princess Saga, who I make my heir. But I need to fix this, so I petition the pope (it's good to have your own pope) for a divorce, which he grants because, hello, she's my aunt. I remarry a young Russian princess and set out to produce a son. The antipapacy ended for some reason I can't determine. I am fairly weak, so I had to agree to gavelkind succession. And...it looks like I married a lesbian. No son yet. Let's see if I can get another divorce. Nope. And, I couldn't manage to kill her before I died of Camp Fever. Lame.

Well, as a new king, there sure is a lot of housekeeping to take care of. Appointing guardians and so on. The most important thing is to name a successor. I'm going with my son, Prince Boris. Duke Inge, however, is the current heir to Sweden. He's 64, so I could plan to out-live him. I could also plan to help that plan along. I have the opportunity to throw him in jail; maybe this is a good move. Of course it doesn't work, and he revolts. He was a useful ally to my father, but I think it's time to clip his wings. I have enough coin to hire some mercenaries to help me out. In the middle of this battle, Prince Boris favors Duke Inge as heir to Noridake instead of himself. I have to wonder about this boy. I get Duke Inge in jail, and Prince Boris is back to favoring himself. Unfortunately, I notice that Prince Boris only has daughters, and his wife is exiting her childbearing years. Well, something to sort out later, I suppose. Let's expand the empire (OK, ki...