I wish I could remember who Fedelmid MacMac is. Probably the heir of some Irish county, Dad was always trying to butter those guys up.

My name is Harald Gudrodson Crovan of the Isles and I'll turn 15 in November. Mom's helping out with the details of being a Duke but I think I could handle it on my own. I'm really mature for my age!Sister Eldrid went off to marry the guy she had been betrothed to.Turns out he's the heir to the County of Carrick, the son of our friend Mac Congáil, who has succeeded in gaining control of his father's holdings by himself. This means he controls 3 out of 5 provinces in our little realm. The marriage was probably supposed to ensure good relations. It also gives children of the union claims on our titles. Oops.I thought I was being really clever when I invited this guy over to my court. I was looking forward to pressing his claim in Wales, proving my worth in combat and expanding my realm, when I realised he wouldn't become my vassal at all, since Perfed-mumblemumble is not apart of any title I hold. Owain still languishes in my court with no-one willing to pursue his claim.Instead I came up with this method of expansion. I marry the Countess of Atholl, and our kids will inherit us both! Perfect!Today I turned 16! I am a man full-grown now, but I have to wait a bit before I can marry my beloved Catriona. I got my grades, too. Apparently I'm a thoroughly mediocre man. That will not do!I'll show them all!Starting withNow now, bear with me. As a Lord, I take a -75% modifier to income from personally held cities. With City Taxes at 25%, this would mean nothing changes except I don't have to deal with a mayor who might pay me less than normal. BUT, if I plop down a Steward to Collect Taxes, I get a +x% modifier on the tax income. This +x% is NOT added to the result after the Wrong Holding penalty, but stacks with it. So if your Steward gives a +40% boost, you go from 25% tax to 60% tax, almost doubling your income. This early in the game, the city only barely reaches my capital holding in income, but later on as you finish more upgrades you can get huge amounts of cash this way. And with no other viable means to expand, I feel this is a strong move.The levies are still crap, mind. And make sure your vassals are in a good mood. Here, Harald's traits cancel out the opinion penalty for revoking a title.Yay, I can finally start makin' babies! She first suggested we marry matrilineally. I had almost accepted before I read the fine print. Watch out for that.I gave that bitch a horse. Bitches love horses. 15 gold is a small price to pay for a happy wife.Meanwhile, I receive disturbing reports from Ireland.Meath has been expanding like a plague with inheritances and warfare alike, and seem hell-bent on taking over the whole island. I'd like to say that I'll have to step up my own efforts, but my Chancellor has been hard at work trying to fabricate some claims on Ulster since I began playing, but with nothing to show for it.My brother Halfdan comes of age, turning out as a fairly good soldier and commander. He'll probably start pestering me soon for a title, but firstly I don't have any to give and secondly he's an ambitious twat so I wouldn't give him any even if I did.Dad was wrong. Spring is apparently the most boring time in the Isles.Aw man, I love these people! Still, that's my nephew she's plotting to kill, someone should do something.Yeah.Someone totally should.But now for something completely different:I've been spending most of my money on economic improvements. This means my levies are still diminuitive, but in the long run I'll have more economic momentum to keep building. It's a give-take affair with no clearly superior choice between going for military or economic upgrades early. For me, it seems to pay off going this route, since no-one has attacked me.Yet.God damn you, Fedelmid! How can you get a claim like it ain't no thang while I'm out in the cold for years? This is not what I had in mind when I mentioned expanding into Ireland!Carrick now controls 4 out of 6 provinces in the realm, but one will take five years to assimilate. Bah. I move my efforts to Tyrone, the neighbouring province, and cross my fingers.YES! It only took 4 more otherwise uneventful years, but I finally have a claim to press! A quick look at the diplomatic mode reveals that Tyrone only has the Welsh duchy of Deheubarth to call, so I'm safe to go to war for this.I won't beat around the bush: They didn't put up much of a fight. Also, what you see there is my maximum army. Yup. I am not a major player.Yet.The bad news is that I have two sons: Gunnar and Torgil. I still have Gavelkind(Past-Werewhale thought it would be more fun to keep it that way. I don't like Past-Werewhale), so he will inherit Tyrone(but still swear fealty to Gunnar).Meanwhile, I find out that good old Fedelmid of Carrick-and-most-everything-else, my brother-in-law, has gotten himself a claim on Teviotdale, which is a part of Scotland. I consider for a while if I should think about pressing it when I realise I don't want him growing even stronger. Screw that.THEN!ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapIt begins. The Duke of Moray fabricates a claim on Innse Gaill, my starting province, and the only province of mine that actually generates income. FffffffffffffffffffI just hope Scotland keeps himself busy elsewhere.Right?To make matters worse, I'm falling behind in the Scramble for Ireland.Way behind. Meath just needs one more province before he can crown himself King of Ireland. That will make further expansion... difficult.I wouldn't gain anything but two unruly vassals. With No Feudal Taxes, I get no money, and with the Declared War and Foreigner opinion penalties, I would gain little to no levies either. I'd much rather fabricate a claim and take the provinces for myself. Even if it takes twenty years to get a return investment.Then again, it's only a matter of time before the Scots come at me, so I take things easy, stock up on cash and pray they pick a moment when I am strong enough to-There is absolutely no way that this could ever go horribly wrong.