new game, new map
Quick Key for the left side:
Medium Purple: d'Este Empire at the end of the game
Light Purple: Former d'Este possessions
Dark Purple: Territories that the d'Este really, really want
Boy this one was a fun (except for that one time I literally started crying. Yes, that actually happened during this campaign).
It all started out with Alberto-Azzo II, Margrave (Duke) of Milan. He didn't really get to do much except play a game of chess with Death himself, and subsequently lost his life and the life of his second son.
After Alberto-Azzo II came Count Dooku Duke Ugo, who also didn't really get to do much big. He spent his 40 years mostly just sitting in Milan. Sometime during his reign, the First Crusade was called, and he was one of the first to take up the cross. Problem was that he didn't exactly have any boats to set sail to Jerusalem in, so he had to walk there. Then, when he had only made it to Croatia, two separate rival duchies in the HRE betrayed the Duke and declared war. Ugo eventually lost both of them, losing 2 of his 5 provinces. After that, he joined a society, where he climbed the ranks and almost became leader of, until he died.
After Duke Ugo was King* Alberto-Azzo, the Glory Sword. He spent much of his reign at war and placing his family in strategic positions. Most notably, he placed his wife on the neighboring Duchy of Piedmont, and made another family member a Count in Brabant. After that, another crusade was called, this time for Greece, which had been taken by the Seljuks. The Glory Sword took up the cross and marched his way to Greece (this time without any backstabbers declaring war) and he successfully led the Greek Crusade, up until the point he died in the middle of the crusade, tragically dying in combat months before his first son was born, and months before the end of the crusade. His Daughter would eventually be declared Queen of Greece after the victory, and the Glory Sword would posthumously be known as King.
Queen Anna is not very notable, except for her (and here regent) handing out land after the crusade. She died a couple years after she came of age (officially of sickness, but in reality she died of her doctor's assassination "failed treatment").
Queen Anna was succeeded by Alberto-Azzo II (her brother, the posthumous son of the Glory Sword) and his son, Alberto-Azzo III (the two honestly kind of blend together, they're so boring). All I remember from their combined reign was a crusade was raged against the Seljuks of Anatolia in favor of, well, a Catholic Seljuk. The Catholic Seljuk won, died, and was replaced by a Muslim Seljuk, and Christiandom collectively facepalmed. I do believe a couple of smaller holy wars were waged for Anatolia during this time as well. Somewhere around here I believe the spawn of the Devil was born, but I believe she was killed off rather quickly...
And then came Audoin, the Just and Holy, the Great and Glorious, of which Man, God, and Devil bow before. He was just an all around amazing and hilarious ruler. He was simultaneously Just and Insane, but at least he was a great Crusader (pst, by the way, no one else ever knew, but by the end his mental condition became so bad he eventually became a Satanist, and was probably possessed by the Devil himself). He ruled for a glorious 60 years saw the Kingdom of Greece break free from the shackles of the Holy Roman Empire, wage two crusades for Jerusalem and Arabia, and eventually be crowned as Emperor of Greece (basically as a big f- you to the Byzantines, who at the end of this are still limping along). It was somewhere around this crowning as Emperor that things took a drastic turn for the worse in terms of Audoin's mental condition, including, at one point, pointing a horse as Chancellor. Then screwing said horse. Multiple, multiple times. Hilariously, despite all of this, he's still regarded extremely positively and was universally loved by all his people. It was under his rule that Constantinople was renamed Audoinople.
After Audoin came his son, Lawrence the Tenacious. Lawrence's reign of 25 years could have actually possibly been able to exceed his father, if only fate gave him a chance. The first ten years of his rule were marked with constant landless adventures invading his empire to slice a piece off the Empire, each failing, one after another. Then he was given a couple of years to actually wage war, and war he waged. I do believe it was at this time the Crusade for Lotharingia was called against the great empire from across the seas, the Aztec, and Lawrence beat back the Aztec and added Lotharingia into his Este Empire. Sadly, the last ten years were marked with a great new plague, the Black Death, that swept in from the other great empire that had arisen, the Mongol Empire. Lawrence locked himself away in Audoinople for the remainder of his life, dying, ironically enough, from cancer. Lawerence's reign was remembered as the height of the first Este Golden Age.
Lawrence was succeeded by his son, Peranudet. Upon arriving to Audoinople (after reigning from Milan as King of Greece), Peranudet noticed that the plague was starting to wash away, with Audoinople left completely untouched. Seeing this, he decided it wouldn't be necessary to close the doors of Audoinople. He would be dead with the year, with the Black Death entering Audoinople.
Peranudet was succeeded by his young son, Centolh. He also didn't close the doors. He would be dead within 3 months.
Centolh was succeeded by his aunt, daughter of Lawrence, Empress Patricia. While many might look to Audoin, Lawrence, or one of her later successors as one of the Greatest rulers of Greece, it can't be underestimated how much she saved Greece under her reign, how much she would have to work to keep it from falling apart. The first thing she made sure she did when she got on the throne was that SHE CLOSED THE FREAKING DOORS. Already off to a better start then her predecessors. Next, once her husband (which she was married paternally to, and had one son from this marriage, not of her dynasty) caught the plague, she instantly threw him out the palace window and got married maternally, and had a son from this marriage as well. She started her reign completely despised, she ended her reign, less than ten years later, universally loved. The main she did this were 1: Lots of bribery, y'all. She had a big ol' treasury and she wasn't afraid to empty it to stay on her throne. 2: War, lots and lots of war. She stayed constantly at war so she could constantly distract her always scheming nobles. In the last years of her reign, she joined the Crusade for either France or Aquitaine, where the House d'Este, as always, provided the most help, kicking out the Aztecs from yet another stronghold. Sadly, her reign caused a rift in the House d'Este that would not be healed until at least 5 generations later, as here eldest son, the one not of her dynasty (although was married maternally to another member of the House d'Este so the family would go on that way) came to the throne, while her youngest son, Jaufret, instead ended up in Arabia.
Jaufret was, to say, a wee bitch. He was in constant struggle to regain the throne of the Empire of Greece, but just couldn't get it. Instead, he took his aggression out on the Fatimids, which he had come to assume were also a bunch of wee bitches at this point (with fair reason to believe so), until the Fatimids started to kick him around, and then started kicking around the entire Greek Empire when they came a-knocking. And then things became not-so-fun when the Mongols and the Seljuk (who, may I add, are also still alive by the end, as, what I called, "The Last Muslim Empire") declared a Jihad for Arabia. It was at this point I started to actually cry, between staring at the screen for too long and seeing all my hard work just go up in flame. After the end of the Jihad, Jaufret temporarily became a vassal of the Mongol Empire due to some weird game rules, until he was able to make his way back into the Greek Empire by reclaiming the Kingdom of Anatolia. It was at this point he decided to give up his active quest to regain the throne of the Greek Empire and settled down, and instead taught his sons to want to regain the throne.
Jaufret I of Anatolia was replaced by his son, Jaufret II of Anatolia. Jaufret II wasn't able to do much except become a mangled mess and die in the process of becoming even more mangled.
Jaufret the Monster was replaced by Vincent the Fat, who, during his 40+ years at the helm, was able to regain the throne of the Greek Empire, at the cost of losing a couple vassals in the ensuing civil war (as shown as light purple on the map). He also successfully maneuvered his wife (then son) to become King of Ireland. He also swept up more of the decaying Aztec Empire here and there. Other than that, I honestly don't remember much about him.
After Vincent the Fat came Vincent the Aztec lover, so named because he ended up with a Aztec in the court (converted to the one true faith, of course), and said Aztec then became the court tutor, and taught Vincent's son, Thomas, how to be a proper Aztec. And the whole of Christiandom facepalmed.
Vincent didn't get to reign very long before Thomas the other Aztec lover took the throne. Although, despite the name, he was the one who killed off the remains of the Aztec Empire in Europe. But, who really had the last laugh? Besides this though, Thomas's reign was rather uneventful. There was a war here or there, but not much else of note. He is regarded though as the greatest of Este Emperor during the Medieval era, a claim I quickly dispute by pointing to Audoin, Lawrence, or Patricia, but Thomas was a rather long reigning ruler, a ruler who ruled over a lot of land. It might have been at this time that the Crusade for Egypt and Mesopotamia was called, which of course the House d'Este would get involved in, they're a freaking dynasty made up of nothing but crusaders.
Thomas was replaced with his son, someone with an unspellable name so I'll just call him Thomas II. Thomas's reign was also rather uneventful, except for the tragedy that plagued him at the end of his life. See, Thomas II's son and heir was placed as King Mesopotamia, up to when he died. Thomas II, depressed by the death of his son, would die himself less than a week later.
Thomas II was replaced with Xochitl, who wouldn't really do much until the game ended in 1453.
And thus was the story of the House d'Este, the Crusader Dynasty, those who cast off the Mongols, the Aztecs, the Moslems, the Heretics. Those who will rebuild Rome.
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I need another few hundred hours a week!
