Hello, everyone, and welcome to part two of my little CK 2 AAR. Part one wasn’t posted on this site, but you can find it by clicking this link here. To recap: We’re playing CK 2 as the Penikis dynasty from the 769 start. The last post was a recap of everything that happened leading up to 865, including a very early Sunset Invasion. And now, our story continues.

Almost immediately, King Ankad sets to work on increasing the obligation of the feudal lords to ensure he has an army large enough to ward off any approaching invaders from the west. The pagans don’t trouble us overly, but if the shattered Christian kingdoms were ever to unite in some sort of grand holy war, it could be disastrous for us. The issue is immediately put to the council to vote.

However, the initiative lacks key support, so, fearing failure, the king offers a favor to the most senior council member to try and swing the vote his way.

And as soon as the request is sent, the motion passes, leaving the king with a useless favor hanging over his head. The king wishes he could cancel the request. Alas, he cannot.

And while our king works on important things like developing his domain, his cartographers notice something… peculiar up in Sweden. We have no idea how this happened, but thought it worthy of recording anyways.

And considering our king is the great reformer of the faith, he decides studying theology a bit more thoroughly would behoove him.

Fearing for his life as age crept upon him, the king decided to look for a physician to help heal his infirmity.

And he’s rewarded with one of the holiest men in the land. Surely, Dievas will look over his own champion.

And over years of almost completely uninterrupted peace (please ignore the inconsequential peasant rebellion and obnoxious viking raids; they don’t amount to anything), King Ankad draws even closer to the gods. Piety is important to their chosen champion.

And he goes even deeper down the piety hole. No one can accuse Ankad of not loving the gods.

Finally, after years of patient waiting, Lesser Poland truly becomes a lesser Poland as the kingdom is torn apart due to gavelkind succession. The king makes a note to work on that later, but first, we have some land to claim.

And they still somehow manage to raise thousands of men. Luckily for us, we now have the Chosen of Perkunas to fight for us. Their eleven-thousand men will guide us to triumph.

Even when you’re leading a war to crush your enemies, you can always make time for Dievas.

And wouldn’t you know it, some vultures decided now would be a fun time to declare their independence. Let the Chosen handle Poland, King Ankad will show what happens to those who try to leave Lithuania.

Also, our Aztec friends contracted the pox and are now dying in droves back home. Fantastic. Dievas Vult!

With the rebellion swiftly and brutally crushed, the king’s attention again turns to Poland, and it seems the Chosen have allowed the vast majority of their numbers to die because of attrition. Ankad grits his teeth and does what he needs to to guarantee our victory (and I later learned about building forts, and how they can save you from dying of attrition. Not during this war, though).

And the Middle East continues to implode into decadence. If the Byzantines turned their attention south and away from the Slavs to the north, they’d reclaim much of their former territory easily.

And during one of our biannual adventurer rebellions, we hear the Aztecs making war with a kingdom to their south who are armed with thunder sticks. While they certainly sound menacing, we highly doubt they’ll make their way over here for at least six centuries. We have nothing to fear by this alarming development.

Wait, we do have something to fear. The Aztecs finally decided to do something, and that something was conquer most of the Iberian Peninsula. Well, at least we still have the Christians as our shield.

King Ankad goes to the ancestors, seeking wisdom on how to deal with all the struggles that surround him, the Aztec threat weighing most heavily on his mind. Offering one of the finest sacrifices from his prisons, he hopes they will answer soon.

And answer they do. Unfortunately, they don’t give an answer King Ankad wants to here. Or can understand, it seems. Perhaps there is a wisdom in knowing you know nothing and that leads to true enlightenment. It’s what we tell the king, at least. Also, he’s pulling the council’s teeth to get them to hand the ability to revoke titles over to him alone. They aren’t particularly fond of the idea.

Speaking of rules, it’s finally time to deal with Gavelkind. King Ankad had hoped he could develop a keener understanding of legalism before dealing with such issues of inheritance, but alas, he senses his time drawing near, and knows that the realm can’t survive being split amongst his sons. He does the necessary things and reforms away from Gavelkind, giving Ruthenia seniority and allowing the dukes of Lithuania to vote on who they wish the heir to be.

Whatever conflict this might have led to is immediately rendered null and void as the kingdom of Ruthenia is destroyed. We don’t know how it came into existence, but it doesn’t matter now.

More ill tidings from the Aztecs. They’ve conquered even more of their world, using our horses to subjugate weaker tribes. The only one who should be subjugating weaker tribes is us, as that is the will of Dievas.

Also, we have a surprising shake up when it comes to inheritance. The king’s eldest surviving son died under suspicious circumstances, leaving his youngest son as the only possible heir. No one else seems willing to run against him for unknown reasons.

But, speaking of subjugating ignorant tribesmen, that gives King Ankad an idea. The Rus to the north are embroiled in civil war as the Suomenusko peoples now rule it, leading to fractious civil wars and the petty kingdom of Ilmen open to us. Dievas Vult! Long live King Ankad, the champion of our people.

Unfortunately, it seems the gods have other ideas.