MacDidz: The Scottish Blog

**StoneCold** · 05-31-2007, 18:43

Basically the stomp works for all non-fighting units, so if you manage to find an assassin, spy, but don't have a assassin of yours nearby, turn out your nearest army for a man-hunt :). Don't let your young members be in the heretic regions for too long or they will start getting bad traits.

**Didz** · 06-01-2007, 15:07

1112-1115 From little acorns.
The next three years were dedicated to the personal development of the Royal children and attempting to make the United Kingdom a land fit for them to rule.

Princess Mariot (Age 22)
Traits and Retinue: Smothering guards, Faithful Servant, Fine cosmetic’s, simplistic, respectful, natural negotiator.
Princess Mariot continued her promenade through France to Portugal. Move suitors approached the King requesting her hand in marriage by Edward remained hopefully of an advantageous match with an Iberian Prince.

He was to be disappointed as by the time Mariot reached Lisbon it was clear that neither Spain nor Portugal had any Faction Leader or heirs available to marry her. Unfortunately, she is not that intelligent either and so her future is beginning to look bleak.

The only possible candidate was a Spanish General she met in Bordeaux called Valdez the Saint. This guy actually had maxed Piety and Loyalty plus 8/10 command ability which is probably why the French are doing so poorly in their war against Spain. The bad news is that there was only an 18% chance that Mariot could charm him up the aisle but I suppose its worth a try.

Prince Kyle (Age 19)
Traits and Retinue: Pagan Magician, Good with Taxes, Mean with money, Religious, Fair in Rule.
Having supervised the construction of the mines in York, Prince Kyle has been packed off to the holy land to answer the Popes call for a crusade to Jerusalem. Edward’s comment that ‘It’ll do the lad good.’ hid a very real concern that his remaining in the kingdom would lead to a very real risk that he would be corrupted by the heretical idea’s that were still sweeping the land. Prince Kyle had already hired a Pagan Magician to help him predict the future, and things could only get worse if he remained.

Cathal Canmore (Age 22) – Duke of Cornwall, Constable of the Tower of London
Traits and Retinue: Overseer, cultured, social drinker, gregarious, dutifully religious, religiously proper, mining knowledge, ignorant.
Cathal was doing well in his new role as Duke of Cornwall, he supervised the building of tin mines in the county gaining considerable knowledge and understanding of mining and encouraged the training of an elite squad of priests to hunt down Isaac and his ‘Salvation through Wealth’ heretic’s which were gaining numerous followers amongst London’s merchant community.

James Canmore (Age 19) – The wandering Prince
Traits and Retinue: Religiously proper, delusions of illness, understands trade, sociable, superstitious, honest, religious, good with taxes, mining knowledge.
Originally sent to Inverness to oversee the building of yet another church, it quickly became apparent that the north of Scotland was not a suitable place for a such a sickly and impressionable youth. He was withdraw to Edinburgh briefly to witness the construction of the cities Merchant Wharf and then sent to Ireland to supervise the construction of the port facilities in Dublin.

Adam Canmore (Age 17) – Duke of York
Traits and Retinue: Abhors Drink, sociable.
Currently overseeing the construction of a church in Edinburgh, he is the youngest of Edmunds sons and feels unappreciated.

**Didz** · 06-01-2007, 15:09

Winter 1112 The Battle of Taunton
In the winter of 1112, Edward decided to deal once and for all with the English army which was still skulking in woods and villages of Gloucestershire despite demands that it should either disperse or withdraw to Normandy.

Edward instructed one of the newly appointed diplomats Roy of Sowlis to give them one last option to vacate the soil of the United Kingdom peacefully or simply disperse and go home. But Ralph their captain refused to accept either option and so Edward gathered 150 crossbowmen and 160 knights from the fortress of Nottingham and drove them out of Gloucestershire into Somerset before forcing them to give battle near the town of Taunton.

Edward drew his army up on a low ridge overlooking the English army which then attempted to attack and drive off his crossbowmen, allowing the Scottish knights to envelope their formations and destroy them piecemeal with well time charges in the flanks and rear.

With the last English troops removed from the United Kingdom Edward returned to Nottingham Castle.

**Didz** · 06-02-2007, 01:10

1115: Know your enemies, know your friends.

Edmund had done as Edward requested recruiting three more diplomats and an additional spy to monitor the potential threats along Scotland’s trade route to Africa.

So, by 1115 Scotland had established five foreign embassies each with a resident diplomat.

Each of these diplomats had submitted their initial reports and having dealt with the English at the Battle of Taunton Edward settled down with his council of ministers to analyse the information which had been provided.

The first re-assurance Edward gained from this information was that Scotland and her ally France were both supremely powerful and with seven settlements each were much larger than their immediate enemies England and Spain.

Only the Holy Roman Emperor held more territory than Scotland though He was currently ex-communicated and so might not hold onto it for very long.

Economically, both England and Spain have drained their treasuries dry hiring troops to fight their respective wars and only Scotland and the Papal states seem to have any significant wealth.

In addition to the comparison of power and wealth, Edward had a chart drawn up to help him understand the diplomatic and military relationships between the various kingdoms.

This clearly showed that Spain was the centre and of an alliance of five factions, Spain, England, Portugal, HRE and Milan. Together this alliance could call upon the resources of at least 20 provinces.

Opposed to this loose coalition was Scotland and France with 14 provinces but with the potential support of the Papal States and the Pope. It was also clear that Denmark through its alliance with Venice ought to be a potential ally of France and Scotland, as Venice was already at war with the HRE.

However, for the moment, Denmark seemed determined to remain neutral. But there was no doubt from the chart where its friends ought to reside and with Denmark came to possible support of Poland.

Once more the council proposed that Scotland should continue its war against the English by capturing the city of Caen. This would not only swing the balance of power in favour of the Franco-Scottish alliance but remove a potential threat to France allowing it to concentrate all its resources against Spain and would give Scotland a base of operations on the other side of the channel should they need to assist France actively against the Spanish.

Edward recognised that this might well be a sensible course of action. However, Micheil of Argyll had revealed the worrying information that Portugal has already captured the city of Madagascar from the Moors and Edward is now torn between the desire to beat the Portuguese to Timbuktu or finishing off the English. If Caen was to be attacked then it would need to be a quick seige, and that required catapults which Edward did not have. "Give me a catapult and I will give you Caen." he muttered

In the meantime Edward decided to extend his network of embassies to include Venice, Poland and Milan, as he was keen to discover if Venice wished to join the Franco-Scottish Alliance and what if any power Milan and Poland might be able to contribute to their friends.

**Didz** · 06-02-2007, 15:34

Summer 1114: Barbecue Time at Last

Edwards ‘War against Heresy’ finally achieves a minor victory. One of Cathal Canmores newly trained ‘Anti-Heresy Squad’ called Stuart Macgoulchanne managed to corner the heretic Isaac and have him denounced and burned as a blasphemer.

One down four to go….the Pope has also sent yet another inquisitor to Scotland, and this guy actually looks like he might know what he’s doing.

Hopefully, this will be the turning point in the war against heresy.

**gibsonsg91921** · 06-02-2007, 17:29

great blog macdidz- cant wait for the next installment

**valhalla89** · 06-03-2007, 21:52

yea, really entertaining read, im checking in every other day or so. i really like how your changing the influence of the game from the normal conquere, war, "bam bam bam" story to a very complicated, character filled, and political game. props, and thanks again.

**Didz** · 06-05-2007, 11:35

Summer 1115: Another new Pope.
News from Rome: Patrick MacDougall sends word that Pope Alexius died last year (1114) and the Pope is now Petrus of Hungary. However, Patrick confirms that this change of leadership has done nothing to diminish Scotland’s special relationship with his holiness. [Pope-o-meter Rating 10/10]. In fact, only Hungary itself can match Scotland in the favour by which it is seen in the eyes of the Pope

**Didz** · 06-05-2007, 11:36

Summer 1115: Another new Pope.
News from Rome: Patrick MacDougall sends word that Pope Alexius died last year (1114) and the Pope is now Petrus of Hungary.

However, Patrick confirms that this change of leadership has done nothing to diminish Scotland’s special relationship with his holiness. [Pope-o-meter Rating 10/10]. In fact, only Hungary itself can match Scotland in the favour by which it is seen in the eyes of the Pope.