Author: coemgenvs

Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton, part VIII

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Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton

VIII: New Wife, New King
August 2691 – October 2694

In August 2691 Duke Lyman of Chariton married Juniper Ramsays of Little Egypt.

In November of the same year, Duke Lyman began preparations for a great feast for his vassals. Due to his obligations in Des Moines, it was to take place there rather than in Maryville. Count Hannibal was dispatched to hunt boar and Duke Lyman spent lavishly on food and entertainments. Count Hannibal of Hannibal, Count Napoleon of Moberly, Abbot Lee of Bethany and Mayor Isaac of Rock Port were invited, and all replied that they meant to attend.

On December 28 2691, after a prolonged illness, Duke Lyman of Chariton’s sister Evanora Still, Duchess of Driftless, died in Dubuque at the age of 23 years. Her husband Duke Roquat of Driftless was commanding troops in Illinois when she died.

Count Hannibal and Mayor Isaac were each attacked by bandits near Des Moines on their way to the feast in February 2692, but otherwise the feast passed without incident.

In March the Atomicist Duke Grannuslav of Calumet attacked Duke Keifer of Illinois, claiming to be the rightful ruler of Kannakee. In early March, an Illinois army and a Calumet army, each of about 1000 men, fought near Kankakee while 3800 Indianapolitans began to retake Joliet and Chicago from Illinois and King Franklin’s army began laying siege to Champaign, which had been held by a small Indianapolitan garrison after its surrender.

In June, the Iowan and Indianapolitan armies met near Streator. In the Battle of Streator, 1700 Iowans under King Franklin met 3300 Indianapolitans, including Northlander mercenaries in the employ of the Duke of Indianapolis. Some 800 Iowans were killed or wounded, and about 200 Indianapolitans met the same fate. Later the same month, the Ursuline Abbess-General declared that any true Christian who took up the cross and fought the Rust Cultist Oligarch Grimhilt Stahlbleche of Cuyahoga, Upper Ohio, and Miami Valley would be absolved of their sins. The Oligarch Grimhilt ruled most of what was once called Ohio, on the eastern border of the Duchy of Indianapolis, and this news was mostly met with apathy in Iowa.

In August the court in Des Moines recieved news that Prince Franklin had been captured by Duke Ralston of Indianapolis after the Battle of Mount Zion, which saw 4500 men from Iowa and the Duchies of Illinois, Little Egypt, Great River, and Lead Belt defeated by some 3100 Indianapolitans and their mercenaries. About 2400 Catholics were killed and wounded, as were some 1200 Indianapolitans and their mercenaries.

In September, Duchess Juniper of Chariton was named High Almoner by her husband Duke Lyman.

Lavon, who had been a friend of Duke Truman’s and ably served both Duke Truman and his son Duke Lyman as a chancellor, regent, and spymaster in spite of his long-standing demonic possession and heretical Neo-Gnostic beliefs, was murdered on the orders of his wife Pamela on October 30, 2692. Paul, a son of Duke Truman’s old steward Sheldon, replaced him as Duke Truman’s spymaster and Melville Baltic replaced Milo Trenton as Duke Truman’s chancellor. Chancellor Melville was dispatched to improve relations with King Franklin.

In late March 2693, a group of soldiers in the service of Count Napoleon of Moberly set up camp in a field belonging to a farmer in Nodaway. The farmer claimed that their campfire spread and burnt all of his crops and, in early April, the farmer brought the matter before Duke Lyman’s court and demanded compensation. Duke Lyman paid the farmer from his own treasury.

In late December, a Consumerist merchant named Marius came to Duke Lyman’s court and requested permission to stay at court and carry out his trade in luxuries and rare artifacts. Duke Lyman granted him permission, on the condition that he answer a few questions about the political situation on the East Coast. A few days later the same merchant came to Duke Lyman requesting special privileges in the markets of Duke Lyman’s lands, which Duke Lyman granted for a period of 6 months.

In early 2694 the Indianapolitan duke made peace with the Duke of Illinois and the various Catholic rulers who had come to his aid. In late June, the Consumerist merchant Marius requested his trading privileges be renewed for another 6 months, which Duke Lyman agreed to. After less than two months, in August the Consumerist merchant left Maryville for Cincinnati.

On October 16, 2694 King Franklin Stonewall of Iowa died at the age of sixty-five years. He was succeeded as King of Iowa by his eldest son Franklin, who at the age of twenty-three became the third of that name to rule as King of Iowa. Prince Peter, Franklin Stonewall’s second son, inherited the Duchy of the Quad Cities, and Prince Cole inherited the County of Fort Dodge. The new king retained Duke Lyman of Chariton as Lord Marshal of Iowa.

Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton, part VII

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Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton

VII: Blood
February 2689 – February 2691

Duke Lyman and Duchess Diana’s daughter Pastoria had always been a sickly child, and on Februray 24, 2689 she died after an especially prolonged illness at the age of one year and six months. Duke Lyman’s eldest sister Fairuza resumed her previous place as Duke Lyman’s heir.

The death of Duke Lyman’s daughter reinforced the urgency of securing the succession. An infant daughter would have made a poor enough heir, but due to Duchess Diana’s status as a traitor who made war against the Iowan crown, and the separation that had resulted due to her exile, Duke Truman had decided to seek a divorce from the Pope and purchased indulgences in July and August 2688. Shortly after the death of his daughter Pastoria, Duke Lyman purchased more indulgences in late February and March 2689 before petitioning His Holiness the Pope for a divorce, which was quickly granted in April on grounds of consanguinity. Some scholars of canon law had objected to the match in the first place on the same grounds, as the former Countess of Icaria’s mother Pastoria and Duke Lyman’s mother Fairuza were sisters, making Duke Lyman and the former Duchess Diana first cousins, and therefore too closely related according to some.

In March 2689 some 1600 Northmen from Michigan raided the country near Dubuque, and after his divorce and some searching Duke Lyman arranged to be betrothed to Juniper, the 13-year-old daughter of Duke Napoleon of Little Egypt. Duke Napoleon was also fighting alongside Duke Keifer of Illinois. Duke Lyman and Juniper were betrothed by proxy in May 2689.

In May some 4000 Iowans defeated the Northmen raiding near Dubuque, and in August about 200 Northmen were sighted raiding near Decorah, along the Iowan border with the Northmen of Saint Anthony.

In July 2689, a Indianapolitan army of some 4500 men began to besiege Champaign. The training grounds near Maryville were completed in September, and by Christmas the Illinois army under Duke Keifer’s relative Count Kasimir of Peoria was laying siege to Purdue. In September of that year, the wife of Duke Lyman of Iowa (Duke Lyman of Chariton’s grandfather) had a son, who was named Lyman.

King Ned of Platte died at the age of 72 years on December 7 2689 and was succeeded as King of Platte by his eldest son Ned, whose coronation was held in Omaha on Christmas Day, 2689. By virtue of her husband’s accession to the throne, Duke Lyman’s sister Fairuza became Queen of Platte.

In February 2690, Duke Lyman’s friend Paul was married to Claudette, a natural daughter of the Abbot of Crowley in Arkansas.

Purdue fell to the Illinois army  by early March 2690, and in late May an army of 2200 Badgerlings crossed the Mississippi River from Galena and began raiding near Davenport. The 4000 Iowans encamped near Dubuque marched south and met the heathens in late June, putting them to flight at a cost of about 500 Iowan dead and wounded and about 1000 dead Badgerlings.

After having spent several months bedridden and comatose, Duke Truman’s grandfather Duke Lyman of Iowa died in June 2690 at the age of 68 years. He was succeeded as Duke of Iowa by his infant son Lyman.

By July Champaign had fallen to the Indianapolitan army and the Illinois army under Count Kasimir of Peoria, after taking Purdue, had moved on to besiege Kenapocomoco.

King Franklin of Iowa celebrated Christmas with Duke Keifer of Illinois in Decatur, as King Franklin finally saw fit to cross the Mississippi River and directly join the war against the Atomicists of Indianapolis. In December 2690, the Indianapolitan army had marched to re-take Purdue after accepting the surrender of Champaign, Urbana, and Mahomet and the fall of Kenapocomoco to Count Kasimir’s army.

On January 22 2691, Duke Lyman’s sister Evanora, the wife of Duke Roquat of Driftless, gave birth to a son, who was named Poynter after his father’s father, the first Duke of Driftless. The Duchess Evanora had never been strong, and after giving birth she spent much of her time in bed, trying to recover.

In early February 2691, Duke Lyman began to spend less time at King Franklin’s court in Des Moines and more time in his own lands.

Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton, part VI

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Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton

VI: Union and Separation
January 2686 – January 2689

In early January 2686 Ana, the daughter of Mayor Isaac of Rock Port, married Phineas, the only son of Duke Truman’s former marshal of the same name.

In January 2686, Duke Lyman invited Count Napoleon of Moberly, Count Hannibal of Hannibal, King Franklin Stonewall, Abbot Lee of Bethany, Mayor Isaac of Rock Port, Isaac’s son Everett, and a few courtiers from the counties of Kanesville and Icaria to a small feast. Everett, the Mayor of Rock Port’s son, was also married to Fairuza, a woman who had come to Duke Truman’s court.

Unfortunately, Abbot Lee and most of the courtiers that Duke Truman invited declined their invitation, but Glen (the guardian of Countess Diana of Icaria) and Mayor Isaac of Rock Port agreed to come to the feast.

Calvin Rodman, former Duke of the Quad Cities and Mayor of Sioux City, died in his bed at the age of 74 in late February 2686. Around this time Daffodil Graham, the 10-year-old illegitimate daughter of Lavon Graham, was betrothed to the 20-year-old Shadrach Maizeflower, the late Mayor’s grandson and, it was rumored, spymaster. The new Mayor of Sioux City was named Asa.

In late April Duke Poynter of Driftless was heard discussing ways to reduce King Franklin’s power over the nobility and Sheldon was replaced as Duke Lyman’s steward by Phineas, son of Duke Truman’s onetime Marshal and Spymaster.

At a feast in May, Duke Lyman befriended Count Hannibal of Hannibal, and around the same time King Franklin made Duke Lyman Lord Marshal of the Kingdom of Iowa.

In early June, Duke Lyman of Chariton married his cousin Countess Diana of Icaria. Continue reading →

winding down

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Once again, I haven’t written anything here for a while. This morning at 7 I registered for the spring 2016 semester, and after working until midnight last night and going to bed about 2:30 I set an alarm to go off a few minutes before 7 with the plan that I would wake up and be ready to register for classes, and then maybe do a few other things before going to my 11:15 business law class.

As planned, I woke up, rolled out of bed a few minutes before 7, and was ready a couple minutes before 7. This morning before going to bed I had picked out which sections I wanted to register for. My desired section of German 2 only had 4 seats available, and accounting 2 had a few more seats than that, but writing 1 (i.e., the class I tried taking last summer on campus and online last spring and the summer before that, never mind during my second semester of freshman year almost 6 years ago) and American History had, and have, a bunch of sections available because they’re required general education courses, so I picked out sections so I would be taking 2 classes every day of the week next semester (in contrast to this semester’s schedule of 1 class Monday/Wednesday/Friday and 3 classes back-to-back Tuesday/Thursday – not something I wish to repeat).

Anyway, I registered for classes, and then had to wait about 30 minutes before the university website was working so I could see that I had successfully registered. Continue reading →

Current writing projects

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As promised, I’ve decided to briefly write about my current writing projects. Unfortunately, being a full-time student and working part-time interferes with my productivity, though doing one or the other would probably be manageable. Of course, if I didn’t work I’d have to find some other way to pay my bills, and that might be an issue from a financial standpoint.

Crusader Kings 2: After the End mod

I’ve written here before about Crusader Kings 2 and the After the End mod, which takes the feudal mechanics and gameplay of Crusader Kings 2 from medieval Eurasia and North Africa and throws them into North and Central America and the Caribbean, starting in July 2666. At present, I have a couple projects related to this setting, as well as ideas for more.

The Americanists, who worship the Founding Fathers and other important figures from Old America (i.e., the United States before civilization as we know it ended about 600 years before the game starts [somewhere between 1945 and 2077]), have believers scattered around America, including near Mount Rushmore, in Texas, and are the predominant religion of Central Florida, Virginia, Maryland, south New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania.

The project I may have made the most progress on thus far (even if only in terms of game progress) is my as-yet unnamed game as Elias Waltney, who is Chief of the Mouse in central Florida when the game starts, and (soon) his successors. I have yet to actually start writing the “history”, but in-game Elias Waltney is in his mid-60s, and so probably within a few years of passing away.

The other After the End project I’ve been working on lately is a game as the ruler of Springfield, Missouri. This is, admittedly, primarily because I’ve lived here for a couple years, and I’ve already played a game as the ruler of where I’m originally from (a few versions ago, I admit, but that game is the Chariton game I post about here on occasion). A slight difference from “the Florida game”, as I’ve referred to it, is that I’m trying to write this as a narrative, from the perspective of various characters, as opposed to a more historical and scholarly perspective.

Europa Universalis IV: Super States mod

I don’t have many projects currently going for this game and mod. My current project is as California, which (as of the 1460s) has annexed Baja California and quashed a Baja Californian rebellion, in addition to various other entertaining oddities such as Washington conquering Oregon, New York conquering Vermont and northern New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania, and Minnesota losing land to Iowa, Manitoba, and South Dakota. I’m not sure if I’ve firmly decided on an end for this one, but I think, and have thought, that a history of North America between 1444 (when the game starts, shortly after the American, Mexican, and Australian states and Canadian provinces found themselves thrown back in time) and European contact (1494? probably the 1490s, anyway, assuming a roughly historical timeline).

As with the After the End mod for Crusader Kings 2, ideas here are fairly easy to come by. I’m a Missouri native, so I think playing Missouri at some point would be interesting, though unfortunately in-game Missouri is rather boring and only produces Grain (while California, for example, produces Wine, Naval Stores, Grain, and possibly a few other goods). My current idea is that I might try Missouri in either the next version of the mod or after I’ve made some significant headway on California – maybe after a halfway point is reached or something.

High Autumn

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I haven’t written here for a while, have I? I’m not entirely sure why, honestly. I’m still working and taking classes, and as of about a month ago I have a girlfriend (F, who I’ve mentioned before here), so I suppose I’ve been busy. Too busy to blog, apparently.

I can’t think of anything particularly exciting that has happened recently, so I suppose I’ll start rambling about recent events and current happenings. Mid-term grades came out yesterday, and for the most part they were, I suppose, satisfactory (particularly considering the effort I’ve been putting into my classes and the stress of working a lot and moving).

That reminds me – about a month ago my (now former) room-mate got a job offer in another city, which set into motion the process of his moving out of the apartment and my eventual transfer to another apartment in the same complex. That process was stressful, but my mother and sister drove down one weekend after I signed the lease to help me move, and my brother and a friend of his also came over for an afternoon to help me move. I almost feel like I am, or have, finally settled in, but due to the state of my room and kitchen that might be a slight exaggeration. It probably wouldn’t hurt to clean up a bit, but who has time for that?

On the work front, due to some people quitting, transferring, or in any case leaving (and now I’m not sure I remember who did what, since I don’t think it was anyone I knew very well), I’ve had to work a lot of hours for a few weeks. The first couple weeks of the semester I was scheduled to work 20 hours, which I liked, but then I had to work 24 hours for a few weeks. Okay, that’s still tolerable (even if I’m ‘lazy’ and value my time not spent as a cog in the capitalist machine). For I think a couple weeks I was scheduled to work 32 hours, which is difficult when also taking 12 hours of classes. Luckily, some new people have started now, and I think I’m going to be working slightly fewer hours, at least for next week. I think this week I am only scheduled for 28 hours, and tomorrow I (finally) have a day off after working for 6 days straight. Admittedly, the last two days (tonight and yesterday) are only for 4 hours each, which are almost rewarding after working last weekend.

As of last Saturday I’m officially 24 years and 6 months old (so 24 years, 6 months, and 4 days old today). On one hand it seems weird thinking about being 25, but at the same time I can’t really think of any goals or anything like that. If I were on a “conventional” track, I would have graduated from college 2 years ago, be working, trying to find a job (more likely in this economy), or possibly in post-graduate education. Maybe working on my master’s or doctorate? The important thing here is that I’m not on a “conventional” track, due to taking 2 years off from school and now being a “non-traditional student”.

I can’t really think of anything else to write about, particularly considering I need to be getting ready for work, so I guess this is where I sign off. Maybe I’ll write about my recent writing projects in my next post.

Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton, part V

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(I sort of forgot about this, honestly.)

Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton

V: The Regency
July 2680 – January 2686

In December 2680 Pamela, the wife of Regent Lavon of Chariton, gave birth to a girl, who was named Theodora. When pressed, Pamela claimed that the girl’s father was Count Zedkiah of Prairie Rapids, but he did not acknowledge the girl as his child.

In February 2681 the seat of the Queen of Lakotah fell to an Iowan army. Queen Lacotawin evaded capture, but Iowan armies were laying siege to her lands.

On May 1 2681, Duke Lyman gave the order for a summer fair to be held at Maryville, and it ended on the last day of June.

In July 2682, the self-proclaimed State of Missouri (also known as the Boonslick Republic) declared war on Duke Carl of Kansas.

After King Franklin had begun his war for Rock Rapids, various lesser rulers took advantage of the Iowan-Lakotah war to try conquering various parts of Lakotah ruled by Queen Lacotawin, including Count Daniel of Freeborn and Chief Stuart of Black Hills.

On August 12, 2682, Queen Lacotawin and King Franklin made peace. Queen Lacotawin ceded Rock Rapids (formerly ruled in her name by Duke Yahto Ingyang of Siouxland) and the surrounding lands to King Franklin.

The next month, King Franklin took Estherville from the heathen priest who had been ruling it and granted it to Gerald, who became Abbot Gerald of Estherville and would later serve as King Franklin’s court chaplain.

In February 2683 there were rumors that King Franklin sought to take Icaria from Countess Diana, Duke Lyman’s betrothed.

King Franklin of Iowa was first called Stonewall in July 2683, after a singer sang of his deeds in the war for Rock Rapids. Continue reading →

The Fall of Summer

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Meteorological autumn is upon us! Not that you would know that from the weather today, but it does tend to take at least a couple weeks for the weather to start cooling down (or, conversely, warm up in the spring and summer). Of course, in about a month it might be more autumnal and significantly less summery. In any event, I’m looking forward (as I have been since probably March) for the weather to cool down again. Fall and winter are, by far, my favorite seasons, because I’m not a fan of being outside, I don’t like warm weather, and there are significantly fewer annoying insects in the dead of winter than there are in the “dog days” of summer.

Weather discussion aside, it seems like I usually feel a desire to start some kind of new project as a month ends and a new one begins. Today I’ve thought it was interesting that I haven’t really been thinking about anything along those lines recently, though I suspect there may be a few potential causes (existing projects, being busy with classes and work, spending time with “F”) for recent preoccupation.

As far as existing projects go, there are certainly options if I feel like working on one for a time.  Continue reading →

Look Down

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Ten days seems to be approximately the amount of time that passes before I realize that I haven’t written here for a while.

Thankfully, as of last Wednesday (the 19th) I no longer have stitches on my right hand, so I have two fully functional hands again. The nurse that took the first stitch out had to go get another nurse to help take out the other 3, but aside from the wound hurting a bit after the stitches came out, and it being a bit sensitive over the next few days (mostly when I changed gloves at work), it still hasn’t troubled me much and seems to be healing nicely. Continue reading →