KotR - Unanswered Questions

[Privateerkev]

although Heinrich might have supported him anyway due to his hatred of Henry.

Was there anything going on behind the scenes that made Heinrich hate Henry? From the outside, it just seemed that Heinrich didn't like Henry's attempt at a "neutral" stance in politics. Later of course there was the disagreement over Papal-Smack 1. But anything else?

[GeneralHankerchief]

Heinrich had a mild dislike for Henry basically because he didn't think Henry had the stomach to do anything.

It pretty much turned to hatred after the election of 1140 when Heinrich found out that Henry was lobbying for Mandorf behind the scenes. Considering that Henry was the dude's son, Heinrich pretty much considered this the highest of insults. It took a lot of restraint for me to not kill econ21's character in that battle with the Milanese.

I made it a point to openly attack Henry's character in the Diet, more than anyone else's, after that.

[Privateerkev]

It's interesting that Heinrich got what he wanted (Papal-Smackdown 1) but the Reich reacted with reforms that made sure nothing like that could ever happen again. (unless it was scripted OOC like the run-up to the cataclysm)

The Dukes took control over the Reich and 2 of them we're able to steer things behind the scenes. The power of the Kaiser weakened more and more because many people believed IC that Heinrich over-reached.

Playing a Royalist for the life of my character, I see Heinrich's move against the Pope as the source for the Dukes' massive rise in power. The backlash was just too massive.

Heinrich seemed like a cool guy. Wish I was around back then.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I don't think it was Papal Smackdown so much as the House Armies that wrecked the Kaiser's power. Give any man a permanent army regulated by law to maintain and he becomes that much more powerful. Multiply that by four and you get one screwed Kaiser.

As much as that election was a farce since Pope Gregory was dead either way, if Heinrich had won things would have been so much more dramatic. I probably would have either ignored or half-enacted the House Armies, using the war against the Papacy as an excuse to delay their composition. If anybody wanted an Emergency Session I would have shot them down (remember, back then, only the Kaiser could call one).

...now that I think about it, doing it probably would have enacted those reforms anyway. Damn!

[FactionHeir]

Y'know, I always wondered how the emperor election would have turned out if I had been able to get online a few hours earlier and sent the mass PM with info to the Duke's Council.

Still, I think I might not have changed anything because of partial OOC unwillingness of people to go against who the game designates as emperor.

[Privateerkev]

Still, I think I might not have changed anything because of partial OOC unwillingness of people to go against who the game designates as emperor.

That, and from the Tales of the Illuminati, it seems they already decided on Siegfried.

[OverKnight]

Hans was a known quantity, the Order thought that if he took the throne, he would be more of a threat, possibly even resurrect the Heinrichian concept of Executive Primacy. Since the Throne was outside the direct influence of the Order, this was viewed warily.

Siegfried was viewed as an unknown quantity with less of a power base than Hans. He was deemed less of a threat. Still the Order didn't lead the charge on this one, rather different members questioned both claims to cover all the bases. We did however end up backing Siegfried.

In hindsight, this was a poor decision. Certainly ranking with helping get Chancellor Hummel elected. Of course much of Siegfried's more disastrous decisions were dictated to bring forth the Cataclysm, since Ituralde was leaving the game anyway.

Of course the headache of tracking a royal line separate from the game's might have factored in too.

Edit: In hindsight, I've always been amused that it was Matthias, considering future events, that arranged Siegfried's marriage to Theodora. Odds were even that the Kaiser would have ended up married to the English Princess.