Rise (and probable fall) of the House of Raz

[Razgovory]

So I'm going to do a Crusader Kings AAR, playing the After the End Mod.  I will be playing my own hometown, as play as a version of myself.  When I get a chance to name vassals, I will name them after members of Languish I can't modify their traits, just their names and symbols, at least that's how I think it goes.  The game will be played with normal difficulty, and on Ironman mode.  I think I'll try and be more 'garbon' about it, and make it more of a story rather than simply a collection of screen shots showing me kicking ass (like my Super WWI game I did earlier).  Due to the large number traits and faces I can do a fairly good job making a Raz simulacrum. 



Me at the ball park



Cyber Raz

This version of me is a detached cleric, bright, gluttonous, slothful, cowardly, shy, a stubborn jack-ass, stressed and depressed.  He has a certain amount of native intelligence but held back by mental illness and character flaws.  I ended up with a lot of extra points in the ruler designer so I upped the stats quite a bit, as well as health.  If anyone has any opinions on my guy, what I should change or something I'm willing to hear them.  I did modify the game slightly, the area I live was an unplayable Republic, I don't know why.  I changed it to a feudal duchy.  I also lengthened the play time from the default 400 years to the 600 years or so you get with Charlemagne beginning.  At least I think I did.

A few screen shots of the neighborhood.



All the independent states.



Religious map.



Culture map.



dejure kingdoms



Dejure empires.

[Martinus]

Ok, munchkin, there is no fucking way you are Bright. Otherwise, I approve.

[Razgovory]

I was smarter when I was 16, advanced placement, gifted program, that kind of thing.  Also wasn't fat.  So it's sort of an amalgam of young me and modern me.

[Lettow77]

 Poor Raz makes a character as accurate to himself as he feels he can, and in doing so assigns himself a ridiculous slew of negative traits.

You post only to skewer him for the sole positive one?

You aren't known for your taste or discretion, Martinus, but that was pretty low.

[MadImmortalMan]

Never played this mod before. It looks neat.

[PDH]

Poor Raz makes a character as accurate to himself as he feels he can, and in doing so assigns himself a ridiculous slew of negative traits.

You post only to skewer him for the sole positive one?

You aren't known for your taste or discretion, Martinus, but that was pretty low.

This is Lettow's way of saying: Mart = Douchebag.

[Norgy]

I was smarter when I was 16, advanced placement, gifted program, that kind of thing.  Also wasn't fat.  So it's sort of an amalgam of young me and modern me.

Dude, you're a good guy. Period. Stop slandering and putting yourself down.

I mean, it's Languish, some other fellow's bound to do it soon anyway.

[garbon]

Bit of a slow start.

[celedhring]

So what is this mod about, a post-apocalyptic feudal America? How deep is the conversion? Sounds potentially fun.

[Razgovory]

Bit of a slow start.

Sorry, I played some last night but was injured by peasants and died within the first year.  I did write a small opening though.

[Razgovory]

Goddamn it.  I was overrun by neo-nostics.  How the hell am I suppose to fight an army eight thousand guys?

[Jaron]

Raz, we all love you. Ignore the bitter rainbow.

[Jaron]

Update please

[celedhring]

Yeah, the Fall of the House of Raz was quicker than expected.

[Razgovory]

This short history could not have been written without access to the Pius Xll Library in St. Louis, and the texts located within.  These texts include The Papal Chronicle, De Excidio Iowae, Vita Bradfordi Magni, The Red Book of Moberly, Historia novorum in Missouria, and the Gesta Riverlanderorum.  Special thanks to Fr. Bonovan, custodian of the library.

In late 2665 a conspiracy against the Republic of Boonslick failed due the greed of a courier.  The courier, Ajax by name, was delivering gold to the Lord Proprietor from the King of Iowa.  Forged documents were created indicating that the Grand Division of Boonslick had originally been part of the US state of Iowa rather than the then defunct state of Missouri.  In return for 500 pounds of gold, the Lord Proprietor would attest to the accuracy of the documents and surrender control to the Grangelander kingdom to the north.  Ajax stopped in County Boone and buried a tenth of the bribe, with the intention of coming back to claim it for himself.  Lord Proprietor Lohman had a keen eye and immediately saw he had been cheated.  After berating the courier, he ordered the man back to Iowa to get the full amount or there would be no deal.  Instead, Ajax seems to have fled the region altogether, traveling west with his small group of Iowan horsemen and retainers.  There is no further record of him or his gold.

In his haste Ajax left behind two servants.  The two young valets begged several merchants to take them back to Iowa, but no one seemed interested in traveling the plains in winter.  Soon the whole of Jefferson City was awash in rumors of buried gold.  The valets were eventually detained by soldiers of the Archbishop of Boone, whereupon they related the entire episode.  When news of the plot broke Lord Proprietor went into hiding.  His election was immediately nullified, but when the town Patricians tired choose a new leader an angry mob forced them to scatter.  The republic had died.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much agreement on what would take its place.  Some argued that the office be granted to a hereditary nobleman (the count of Osage was the leader of this faction and had pretty good idea what man should become the Duke) while others believe the Pope himself should preside over the territory.  During a St. Louis diet, it was agreed that the hereditary Duke would rule over Boonslick, chosen by the Pope.

Pope Praise-Be surprised everyone by choosing a young student then studying in St. Louis.  His name was Bradford and he was from a minor family of functionaries in both Boonslick and the Papacy.  The Pope took a liking to the boy and saw that he was easily manipulated.  Melancholy, fat, and shy, he was hardly an inspiring leader.  He had the odd habit of telling bizarre and often humorous stories, and then suddenly retire.  His erratic behavior caused most people to believe the young man was mad.  Something the young man encouraged.

In the Inauspicious year of 2666, on the more auspicious day of July 4th, Bradford was crowned Duke of Boonslick.  A week later requested the protection of the Pope himself, which was granted.  In an August ceremony, the young Duke kissed the shoe and ring of the Pope and became a vassal of the Papal States.  Praise-Be appeared to have achieved quite a coup.



Pope Praise-Be in 2666



The New Duke.

The Young Grand Duke was initially unclear as to what his function was.  For his first few years, he governed as the Lord Proprietors had done so in the past, attempting to create opportunities for the local merchant houses. There was uncertainty as to whether the office would be hereditary or not, however, the Grand Duke took it upon himself to find a wife.  His choice was a young Grangelander woman named Nicole, a girl he had met in St. Louis preparing to join a convent.  She was well respected in the Cathedral school for her piety and intellect.  Nicole did not come from noble stock and was resented by the people of Boonslick.   Nor was she entirely happy with marrying the corpulent New Duke.  The marriage cost the Grand Duke a great deal of initial prestige.



The Grand Duchess


The most powerful men of Boonslick were deeply unsatisfied with the upstart and demanded additional powers and freedoms.  The retiring and indolent Duke had no means of resisting his vassals.  The issue came to a head in 2667 when Prince-Bishop Burton gave Bradford a list of demands.  Bradford quickly surrendered.  These men became part of the ducal council, and initially strong say in the rulership of the state.



Count Miciah of Osage, a poor governor who was one of the few who did not immediately hold Bradford in contempt.  The first Chancellor



Count Calhoun of Saline, the rage filled lord who physically assaulted the young Duke twice.  The first Marshal



Prince-Bishop Burton of Boone, the man who hated the new Duke the most, a feeling that was soon reciprocated. The first steward.



Lord Mayor Nereus of Moks, who died shortly after the accession of the Duke.  The first Spymaster.



Cardinal Hank, Bishop of St. Martin's and ally of Burton.  The first confessor



Prince-Bishop Burton's ultimatum.

Initially the Count Calhoun invited Bradford to a series of feasts, but the hard drinking and easily angered count would fly into a rage and attack his cowering liege.  This humiliating situation soon resulted in the Duke and the Count holding one another in mutual antipathy.



The Bullying Count Calhoun attacks the Grand Duke.


Thing changed with the death of Lord-Mayor Nessus from an illness.  His successor Theodore became close friends with the Duke and was made Spymaster.  The friendship positively affected the young man, alleviating his constant melancholy and nervousness.


The Lord Mayor dies.

While still lazy, under Theodore's guidance Bradford's capabilities improved to the point that Pope Praise-Be requested that he be appointed Steward.



The Pope makes Bradford Stewart and Regent of the Papal states.

After suffering humiliations, bruises and power loss to his vassals, Bradford began to plot against them, with the help of the Lord Mayor.  Soon a conspiracy to unseat the Prince-Bishop was born.  When an ultimatum demanding that Burton surrenders his power, the clergyman was shocked.  The situation a few years before was reversed.  Burton chose to fight, a short war lasting a year and a half resulted in Bradford taking control of the County.



The Ultimatum is delivered



A battle in Jefferson City

It was during this time that the Badgerlings tried to conquer the area of Outer Chicago.  The Pope joined in a war against the Norsemen, and though some men of the Grand Duchy fought, Bradford did not.  Shortly after the war against Burton, a band of Vikings attempted to raid Kansas City, before being driven off by Boonslick militia near Leavenworth.  It was clear that the pagan Northmen were becoming a danger.  Pope-Praise began to talk of restoring the practice of crusading.  Far in the East a new faith arose, Consumerism which would soon conquer upstate New York




In 2671 Bradford's first son was born, also named Bradford.  He was found to be a congenital idiot.  Nicole would soon give him two healthy daughters.


An heir is born


In 2672 Bradford journeyed north into the land of the pagans, to create a trade network.  Such an action was more common for a merchant then a nobleman, indicating that Bradford still hadn't understood his role as Grand Duke.  The dangerous expedition took him through the patchwork realms of the Norse before arriving in the territory of the former kingdom of Superior.  There he met the Prince Remnar, Grandson of Albert Soady, the great Viking king who plundered Chicago and sacrificed the President Avondale to the bloody gods, Wotan, Hitler, and Thor.  Remarkably the young Duke became friends who the Viking prince, who was just as shy as he was.  The expedition was a huge success and both states enjoyed increased revenue.








On August 29th, 2672, the Pope Praise-Be reinstated the ancient custom of Crusade and demanding that all Catholics join in a war against the Sioux of Lakotah.  The crusade was ill-timed, coinciding with civil war in both Iowa and Platte, the two major Catholic Kingdoms.  Still the Duke was elated and quit his position as Steward of the Papal States in search of military glory despite his normal aversion to war.  As for the Sioux, they were under heavy pressure from the Northmen and were under attack from three separate polities. 



Crusade is declared against King Tasinagi of the Lakotah Sioux.



Grand Duke Bradford arrives in Yankton, nearly a year after the Crusade was declared, bringing an army through wartorn Platte.

Pope Praise-Be would never see how the Crusade ended, On 22nd of February, 2675 Pope Praise-Be, died.  He was succedded by the cynical Pope Joseph.  Formally know as Bixby Stickham.  The Crusade last over five years, and while the Duke was away, Lord Mayor Theodore of Moks was murdered by Count Calhoun.  The Duke was furious, but with his army in Lakatah, he could do nothing.  The issue became moot when Count Calhoun died of an illness in the fall.

The Lakotah Sioux were those organized of northern horse tribes.  They had settled down developing a hybrid tribal-feudal society.  While the other horselords sent soldiers to defend the Sioux, they were defeated in several battles including Fort Thompson in 2677, and in Kulwichkasa 2678.  By the end of the war Bradford's forces were accompanied by crusaders are far south as Texas.

On May 26th 2679, the Sioux surrendered ceding territory to the Papal states, which fell under the administration of the Grand Duke.  As the First successful crusader in over 1000 years he was acclaimed Bradford the Great, and had suddenly become one of the most powerful men in the Mid-West.



The battle at Fort Thompson.



During the Crusade, Bradford had some sort of mystical experience or religious awakening.



The Crusade is won.







Map of the Former United States in 2679