Royal Family:
King Malcolm III:


Prince Edward, the heir:


Prince Edmund:


“Gah! How can that idiot do this to me!” Prince Edward roared, causing several members of his retinue to shift uncomfortably in their saddles. The past few months had brought one unpleasant revelation after another for him. Despite his pleas, joined by those of the Council of Nobles, to take the city of York and cause a stop to the northward expansion of the new upstart Norman leaders of the English, his father King Malcolm had decreed that no incursions were to be made into lands claimed by the Norman king William. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Malcolm negotiated an alliance with the English and married Edward off to an singularly unpleasant Englishwoman.

Instead of conquering the potentially rich region of Northumbria, with York at its center, Edward was sent to this godforsaken country called Ireland, while his brother was sent to conquer Inverness in northern Scotland. Both poor regions, Inverness at least boasted a castle, or rather a shoddily built wooden structure claimed to be a castle by its rebel inhabitants. King Malcolm had somehow decided that his kingdom would be better off taking poor territories inhabited by fellow Gaels than rich ones containing Saxons. He often rambled about uniting the Celtic outposts left in Britain and Ireland.

Ah well, Edward sighed to himself, when Malcolm died he would be king, and could do what he wished. For now he would be content so long as he was able to pursue his favorite pursuit, that of battle. It even looked like the inhabitants of this dreary town Dublin were going to attempt to put up a fight. Their army consisted mostly of rabble and mercenary soldiers called Galloglaichs, no doubt hired by the noblemen who ruled this land. A pity they preferred cowering in their estates rather than joining the battle and leading their men. This battle was going to be far too easy.


Prince Edward ordered his infantry and archers to line up in the center, with him and his retinue on one wing and two units of border horses on the other. As expected the rabble enemy army lined up in a semblance of a battle line and charged his infantry, although surprisingly they were observant enough to send a unit of spearmen after the prince.

Edward ordered his retinue to charge, decimating the poorly equipped peasants. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemy infantry ran right into his trap. His main battle line held while the border horses came crashing into the enemy’s flanks. Before long most of the enemy army was dead, while the rest fled.



They put up some resistance in the town center, but before long not an enemy was left standing.



While Edward was winning a crushing victory in Ireland, his brother Edmund was less lucky. He was able to take Inverness, but only after much loss of life. In the end it came down to bloody battle in the castle courtyard, where all his personal retinue died and he was badly injured. Still, it was another victory for the Scots, and yet more territory added to the kingdom.



The next 7 years were fairly quiet, as the now more powerful Scottish kingdom consolidated its gains and sought to become a respected world power. Scotland’s cities and castle’s were developed and new trade routes opened. Edinburgh even became known as a major city.


Scottish cartographers mapped out the borders of new kingdoms as diplomats made it safer for them to wander past their own country’s borders. Meanwhile treaties were signed with countries like France and Denmark, and even the Pope himself became a Scottish ally. It was said that Scotland had become the Pope’s most favored nation. His holiness even requested that Scotland take part in a crusade to Jerusalem, although the Council of Nobles also requested the conquest of Caernarvon. Malcolm would have to think carefully about whether to try to split up his forces and fulfill both requests.