Lorraine Cooperative Game - Story Thread...

[Velociryx]

...I said in the first part of the cooperative game thread that I wanted to do more storytelling in this game than I had done in the Scotland game, and then, with getting "corporate downsized" out of my job, all my creative energies had to be poured into FINDING a job....now that things have stabalized a bit (still not in a good job, but, I'm no longer having to worry about if I'll be making next month's mortgage payment or living under a bridge somewhere), I find myself filled up once again with creative energies....to that end, I have begun the arduous task of turning the notes in the cooperative game thread into a viable alt-history story, and here's my first segment of that....enjoy!

-=Vel=-

PS: I'll make a separate "comments" thread for discussion on the story, so we can keep the story segments in a cohesive whole for readers who follow.

[Velociryx]

The Lands of Lorraine

A tiny nation with aspirations of greatness….

An explosive era of danger and intrigue….

A man from another age….

This is their story.

OoO

[Velociryx]

The Reign of Duke Charles II 1390 - 1431
Putting Lorraine on the Path to Greatness....

1416, February – Lothrengen

Duke Charles sat in the humble study just off of the throne room of the small keep that served as the “Royal Palace” for the Duchy of Lorraine.

A tiny land bordering the vast Valois estates to the south and west, and the patchwork collection of Germanic Principalities north and east, Lothrengen (or Lorraine, as she had also become known as) was a superb mixture of French and Germanic cultures, but this very blending was also a thing that set her apart. She was “too Germanic” for her French neighbors, and “too French” for the liking of her Germanic neighbors, thus, she found herself very much alone, and in the world as it was in 1416, “alone” was not a thing that a small, backwater Duchy could afford to be….not if she wished to remain free.

As far as assets went, the tiny Duchy had little to recommend it. She was landlocked, boasted no rare or exotic good for export (iron, but then, iron was a cheap, commonplace commodity throughout Europe), not blessed with vast and sprawling markets like Ile de France or Flandres, both of which sat relatively nearby, nor did she have a particularly imposing army.

More of a toy, really….merely ten thousand men under arms…some six thousand being regular conscripted infantry, another three thousand being drawn from the personal guard of the region’s ruling lords and from the household of the Duke himself, and a thousand horse troops which the Duke had conscripted from among the lesser lords of his realm. These were mostly drawn from the families of the lesser lords, nobility with so many older brothers and sisters that they had no realistic chance of ever gaining control of their familial estates, and so they choose military service as a means of distinguishing themselves.

The cavalry command was far and away the most impressive thing about Lorraine’s “toy” army. The Infantry contingent was lax and ill-disciplined, content to sit about their barracks all the day long and play at cards or dice.

That was precisely how I found the Captain of the Duke’s Watch on the day I arrived, in fact.

Me? Oh, I’m no one special. Just a wanderer. A man from another age. Nothing to see here….move along, if you please.

Okay, so maybe it’s not quite so simple as all that.

Quite to the contrary, actually.

My name is Erich Knopff, and I was in Hitler’s Army during the opening days of World War II. A Captain, I was at Dunkirk when we pushed those lilly white English into the sea where they belonged, and then, my fortunes changed.

For my involvement in the battle of Dunkirk, I was reassigned to guard a science station in Berlin, and oh the wonders I beheld! Hitler may have been (no…strike that, he very definitely was) a lunatic, but the man had an absolutely rabid interest in science, and that was a blessed thing indeed.

The scientists I was guarding were involved in all manner of work, and I found myself enthralled. Captivated.

Truer than true that I didn’t understand half of the snippets of conversation I overheard, and even less of the technical papers I sometimes stole glances at, but it was enough to whet my appetite, and my inquisitive mind could not help but begin asking questions as I struck up after-hours conversations with the scientists that my men and I were guarding.

So it was that I began understanding exactly what Hitler’s SS minions were up to. So it was that I began to grapple with the notion of the death camps (we all thought them to be rumors at first! Surely our bold, pure Aryan people could not be capable of such unthinking brutality!).

Sadly, the rumors were true, and more.

That was also about the time I learned about the time travelling project, going on right under my nose.

Closely guarded by SS elites, I did, after some months of trying, manage to steal a glance at the magnificent machine. Twin towers of copper coil, perhaps sixty feet high, with a single chair in between them, and machinery that I could never hope to comprehend on either side, with miles and miles of pipes and wires branching out almost as far as the eye could see.

The facility was buried deep underground, and I had a devil of a time getting in on that first clandestine visit, but once I had seen the device, I hungered for more. I had to see. I had to understand.

It was all consuming.

As the war dragged on, and we Germans grew increasingly desperate, pressed from the east by the endless Russian hordes, and from the West by the meddlesome Americans who had finally thrown in their lot with the English and French resistance, and other motley collections of soldiers arrayed against us, I came to understand the true horror of what Hitler had attempted to do. The dark stain that he had marked our People with.

I was ashamed to be a German.

Ashamed of my heritage that had brought the whole world to this.

And, I vowed to do something about it.

It was that sense of guilt that prompted me to use the machine.

That guilt that prompted me to take the bold step I took next.

I do not know what my friends and family will think of me. I do not know what my countrymen would say about what I did.

A hero, attempting to save the nation of his birth from this bloody path we had somehow gotten ourselves on, or a traitor?

If my task succeeds, I will never know the answer to this question.

And what a task I had set for myself.

To prevent the worst war the world had ever known, and all the atrocities that the war brought with it.

One evening, when the American B-52’s were pounding Berlin for the hundredth time or so, and with most of the SS Troopers having been reassigned to forward areas to protect against a potential paratrooper attack, I stole my way quietly down to the vast, beautiful machine I had admired for endless months.

In that time, I learned something of her inner workings….I had at least a basic understanding of her controls, and I set about working them to arrive in 1899, figuring that I’d have sufficient time to not only undo one world war, but two, before I breathed my last, or die trying to, anyway.

But isn’t it funny how the best laid plans and the best intentions go awry sometimes?

There I was, sweat dripping off my brow and I furiously worked controls I only barely understood…so intent on my work that I did not even hear the SS Troopers come back into the room on a regular security sweep.

It wasn’t till the first shots rang out that I realized I was no longer alone.

Fortunately, in the gloom, the aim of the guards was less than perfect, and so their initial volley did not find their mark, and I wasn’t about to wait around for them to improve their aim.

True, I had not yet fully set the controls, nor did I know if the damned thing even worked (the last report I had heard was that the first human trials weren’t scheduled to begin for at least another two weeks, and the last animal sent through came back feral and insane), but I had no choice and no time.

Funny thing, that. Standing right next to a time machine, and yet, without time.

But it didn’t matter. Given that the men shooting at me were blocking the only exit, if I wanted to live, my only choice was to sit in the chair between those twin copper towers and hope for the best, and that is precisely what I did.

Powering the great machine up, I raced to the chair and took my seat as the soldiers opened fire again. One of them had me dead to rights, and I flinched as he pulled the trigger, but before his bullet found its mark (and it surely would have), I felt a curious falling sensation, and then…blackness.

I was awakened some unknown time later by a bitterly cold wind and…something else besides.

Something cold and wet, nudging me none-too-gently.

Eyes cracked open, I found myself staring at an enormous horse, who looked down at me with languid eyes, so big and brown that they were almost comical.

Beyond that, I saw barding, and groaned inwardly. The days of armored cavalry were long behind us, and yet…that I was staring at a knight, bedecked in unarticulated plate armor, with leather covering his steed, told me in no uncertain terms that I had ventured back a good deal farther than I had originally intended.

Worse, there was no way home.

Worse still, the knight had his lance pointed squarely at my midsection.

Now, I’ll not pretend that I understood every word the Germanic knight spoke to me, because hundreds of years of time has a way of distorting and changing language, but I caught the drift well enough, and filled in the blanks as quickly as I could.

He thought I was a gypsy. A performer, in my strange dress, who had gotten drunk on too many spirits and been left behind by his caravan.

And he was going to ship me off to the nearest dungeon!

From my position, flat on my back, I explained in halting German that no, I was not a travelling performer, but a court jester from Paris, en route to the house of the nearest Lord to entertain him personally, as a gift from the Lord of Paris. It was the first thing I could think of, and God’s truth, I’m not sure how or why it popped into my mind, but it turned out to be the right thing to say, for I was rewarded by these words by a hearty laugh from the Knight who told me that the Duke of Lothrengen, in Nancy was not far off, and that he was in sore need of entertainment.

Further, the Knight, who was attached to that house, offered to take me there, claiming that if I performed my duties well enough, there may be a reward of some kind in it for him, for finding me and ferrying me to his Duke.

Fair enough, and I thanked him for his kindness. And just like that, I was on my way to the Lands of Lorraine.

A day and a bit later, I was ushered into the Duke’s Keep at Nancy, and told to seek out the Captain of the Duke’s Watch, and that he would guide me to the Duke himself. The knight gave me a scroll, proclaiming that he, Sir Teuffel had found me wandering and lost, and brought me here for the entertainment of His Magesty, but gave me no direction as to how to find the Captain of the Watch.

So I wandered the keep, and considered.

Lothrengen was as good a place as any to do what I could do in terms of changing history, so why not.

But my heart sank as I stumbled into the barracks which housed the Captain of “The Watch.”

It was little more than a shack, really, and the Captain and one of his subordinates were sitting on the earthen floor playing dice when I stepped across the threshold.

I groaned inwardly when I saw that a plump hen had taken up residence in one of the men’s helmets and was roosting upon it.

Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea after all.

“Help you?” Came the question from the Captain.

I sighed again and explained my situation, handing him the scroll by way of further explanation.

He read it, shrugged, and then motioned for me to follow.

And that is how I came into the service of Duke Charles the Second, of Lothrengen.

Not the most bedazzling of tales ever told, and an ignoble beginning, to be sure, but it is God’s truth.

OoO

Now, Duke Charles was not the wisest man that had ever walked the earth, but he was also no fool, and he easily saw through my thin-and-hastily-constructed charade. Besides that, for a jester, I simply wasn’t all that funny.

Perhaps the funniest thing about my “performance” that evening was my broken (to them, anyway) German, and even worse French.

Less than an hour into my horrid performance, Duke Charles nodded curtly in my direction and bade me follow him into his study, which sat just behind the throne room. Without waiting to see if I would comply (it was assumed I would do so without question), he left the side of his young daughter Isabelle, and retired.

I was terrified, but did as was commanded.

And so he sat…watching me with the eyes of a hawk.

Appraising.

Considering.

“From where have you come, “jester” and do not try to deceive me, or I will have your tongue served on a plate.”

I believed him, and dearly did not wish to lie, but how was I to explain the truth of the matter?

I bowed my head and prayed to God, and then blurted it out. “I have come from a land both near and far, My Lord Duke…a land that is beyond the mists of time itself…and I have truly come into your service, not as a court jester, but as an advisor, if you will have me.”

At least I think that’s what I said.

If it wasn’t perfect, it was good enough. The Duke’s eyes narrowed and he looked me over even more closely. “If you are a wizard of some kind, then you are the oddest wizard I have ever seen, but our court is presently without one, or an astrologer for that matter, you seem likely enough to fill that post.”

And he offered me a drink from his own hand.

Too stunned to speak, I walked toward him and took the offered cup.

Sat down with the Duke, and we began to talk.

Hushed tones, barely above a whisper, we talked all night and well into the next day…..

OoO

[Velociryx]

By morning, I had made a believer out of Duke Charles, and more.

Somehow, during the course of our conversation, we had become more than mere strangers grappling over various issues of the Court….a bond had been forged. A friendship.

Yes, he was my Duke. My lord and liege, to whom I had sworn unending allegiance to sometime during the previous night between tankards of ale, but more than that, he was also my friend.

I liked him very much.

A hard man with a talent for tact and diplomacy, he had dreams and visions for his tiny Duchy…dreams and visions I could relate to. This was a man I could work with! Never mind that his “army” was not much to look at, nor that the Duchy itself was a tiny backwater…the ingredients were all here. Right here before me! And the longer we talked, the more sure I became.

Charles of Lothrengen was the man I had been seeking, even before I knew who I had been seeking precisely. Fate or blind luck, or perhaps a bit of both, had landed me in the right place at the right time. Europe was a powder keg, waiting to explode.

Duke Charles, the Dauphin of the vast estates west of us, was moving quickly and decisively to unite all surrounding lands under his banner to create a new Kingdom. A French Kingdom.

The English, under their warrior-king Henry, were moving just as rapidly to stop the rising French star, finding a willing ally in the House of Burgundy, whose dream of “France” differed markedly from the Dauphin’s.

Meanwhile, to the north and east of us, the petty squabbling of the Germanic Principalities kept things always close to the boiling point.

Truly, if ever there was a perfect time to change history, this was it, and I, tucked beneath the wing of Duke Charles, in Lorraine, was sitting squarely in the middle of it all.

I was thrilled, and also terrified.

What I was about to do…the plans I had been staying up late at night devising….they were so filled with uncertainty and devastating danger that I knew it would be difficult to convince Charles to see their wisdom, and yet, if we succeeded!

Dear God, but we stood on the brink of being able to create something glorious! A nation that would never be able to bring itself to commit the attrocities I had seen and heard about during my own time.

It filled me with hope.

All that remained was to convince the Duke….

OoO

His reaction was not what I had anticipated.

Come to think of it, I’m not quite sure what I had anticipated, but gales of laughter wasn’t it.

He shook me roughly at the shoulders as he laughed. “My friend, I do believe your jokes are improving with time! Attack England and Burgundy! Hilarious! I don’t mind the bit about changing the name of our land to “The Grand Duchy of Lorraine” even if we are not-really-so-grand, but as to the rest….that’s funny!”

“But My Lord Duke,” I stammered. “I was….quite serious.”

It only caused him to laugh that much harder.

“Erich, you are a good man…wise in your way, but I know my place in the great scheme of things. I have witnessed my “army” on parade and on maneuvers, and I daresay they would not last ten seconds against the curs of Burgundy, much less the professional regiments of the English King! Now, kindly tell me what manner of sorcery you intend to work to give us even a faint flickering of a chance.”

Good. He was at least willing to listen.

I nodded toward his study, and with some reluctance, he followed me, and sat in numb silence as I began outlining in all seriousness what I had in mind.

More than four hours later, I was finished, and a weighty silence filled the room.

“You….you really are serious, aren’t you?”

“Deadly serious, My Lord….we can do this.”

The Duke was not convinced.

Not by a long shot.

“Even now, the English King is assembling the largest standing army that Europe has ever seen, in order to crush the life out of this dream of “France” before it can breathe its first breath, and their Burgundian henchmen are following close at their heels, sniffing for blood. The Dauphin has little chance against them, I fear.”

“Write to him.” I pleaded. “You are a gifted diplomat…you can get him to accept Lorraine into the French Alliance, and we can aid them in their fight, growing fat and strong off of lands acquired from Burgundy and perhaps even England, and then be poised for even greater things.”

I had not yet told the Duke that I had eventual plans to betray the Dauphin….he would have had my head for certain…better to reveal my plot in smallish doses for the moment. Get him travelling down the path with me first.

“And you realize that the Duke of Burgundy will have both our heads if we falter. If you are wrong about any of this, my lands are forfiet to the crown of Burgundy and Nancy will become just another waystation for Burgundian troops.”

“And if I am right, then you could be the father of a mighty empire.”

“Yes…one I shall not live to see, even if you are correct!”

I sighed and took a chance by calling him familiar. “Charles, you’re more than that. You’re greater than that….think of the power you will pass on to your heirs if we succeed….the entire region is on the brink of war…do you really think that if we remain aloof from it that it will pass us quietly by? One way or another we will be drawn into this conflict. As you have pointed out on numerous occasions, Lorraine stands in the way of Burgundian dominance of the region…eventually, he will come for you to add your lands to his own…better to strike while they are occupied with a greater threat than we.”

I was right, and he knew it.

I had him.

He sighed and glared at me for a moment, but I detected no malice in it. It was the look of a ruler who had been out-maneuvered by his own man.

It was a big part of why we were such good friends.

“I place the burden of preparing our army for this folly squarely upon your shoulders. If they are not ready when the time comes, then we will not strike. It is that simple.”

“And I have all means open to me?”

“The army is at your disposal.” He told me simply. “Do what you must to prepare them for war.”

I was practically beaming. “Yes My Lord!”

I scrambled from the room as fast as my feet could carry me before the Duke could change his mind. There was work to be done.

OoO

[Velociryx]

The first thing I did was to relieve the Captain of the Watch from his duties….along with a number of other prominent “leaders” of the army.

There was much grumbling amongst the nobility in response to these actions, for in those days, promotions to positions of authority were based much more on rank and affluence than on prowess and skill.

I changed all that, at least for the army of Lorraine.

I was a soldier, and I knew how to lead men. Further, I recognized that same trait in others, and carefully cultivated friendships with two brothers in the service of the Duke. Francois and Erich Jaeger….their striking blue eyes that missed not a thing, and their pragmatism spoke volumes to me about the clarity of their minds. Common men, both….men of low birth, but they were the men I wanted. The men I selected, and I got my way. True, it took an odd poisoning here and there to make sure that my will went unchallenged, but it was necessary, and I discovered in those early days that I had a Machievellian streak in me that had never surfaced before.

Good.

It seemed something that would serve me well in this place….in this time.

So, Erich, I promoted to Colonel, and made head of the army of Lorraine, and Francois, I promoted to the station of Captain of the Duke’s Watch. It was Francois whom I entrusted with the training and preparations of the army, while Erich and I worked out various strategies for the army, once it was in fighting shape, and to their credit, the brothers were whirlwinds of activity.

Tireless and devoted, with their help, over the course of the next year, we molded and shaped Lorraine’s army, taking her from the status of “toy” to a dangerous, if untested weapon for the Duke’s use.

And all the while, Europe stumbled toward war and chaos….

OoO

October 14, 1418
“My Lord Duke,” I proclaimed proudly. “I am pleased to present you with a gift….the Army of Lorraine!”

As I made this proclamation, the trumpeteers sounded and suddenly the courtyard was filled with the sound of horses trotting in precision columns. They entered and swung seamlessly to the left, paraded right beneath the balcony, and then circled the whole of the courtyard before marching back out again.

And when they were gone, long lines of infantry, their marching perfectly synchronized, all dressed in highly polished armor, covered with tunics dyed in the handsome, blazing colors of Lorraine, her brilliant, sun-lit yellow with the bold dash of red running through it at an angle.

The sun.

A star rising high in the sky.

And red.

The blood of our enemies.

Oh yes. We were ready.

OoO

And the months that followed were busy as well. With the basic military preparations for our upcoming war in place, I took pains to brace the tiny Duchy for the impact of the hard fighting ahead. There would be additional troop levies to see to, which would strain both our population and the will of the people, and then, there was taxation.

Up until this point, it had been common practice for the Factors of the Duke to present themselves quarterly to the towns inside the Duchy, and collect a poll tax on all citizenry to be found there.

Sadly, the records these men kept were abysmal, and the peasants often paid in food or game, and sometimes even less likely fare.

When I drafted a unified tax code for the Duchy, I must confess that it was the first time I had ever attempted such a thing. During my military days in Germany, I let the Fatherland take care of the paperwork associated with my taxes and never gave it a moment’s thought. That’s what the nation’s bureaucrats were for, after all.

And I must confess that the work was not mine entirely, for there were a great many elements I had not considered or taken into account, and I had to seek the advice of a Legal Consul from some fellow named Antonio Fugger, an Italian of some note and financial means who was travelling to nearby Wurtemburg to visit relatives there. I caught wind of him and rode out to meet him and his vanguard.

After a brief bit of persuasive discussion about the project I had in mind, I agreed that if he gave me assistance on the matter, he would take the tax code developed back to Italy with him and use it as he saw fit.

A fair trade. If he found it useful in some small way, good for him! I had no idea at the time, of course, just how much use he would put my humble document to! Oh, it is true that his family was already vastly wealthy, and by the time they become dominant moneylenders in that region, there were few strains (and barely recognizable, at that) of my original work remaining, but I did play a part in helping them along, I’m proud to say.

And so it was that by December of 1418, I had a final draft in hand, and we began casting about in the Constabulary of the towns in and around Nancy for a suitable fellow to head up Lorraine’s new centralized tax office.

It took the better part of a year to find just the right person, one Evan Von Kemp, but it was well worth the time and money spent on the search.

Lord Von Kemp was the singular individual who would be responsible for appointing local tax collectors in all the outlying towns, for maintaining accurate census information, collecting monies from local way stations and tax offices, and ultimately, for seeing that the tax money found its way into the Duke’s coffers.

He was also the man in charge of the Ducal Mint, responsible for minting coin with the likeness of our leader on it for use in the realm and beyond. We adopted the Ducat as our standard monetary unit, and though this took some time to impress upon the populace, and although there was a fair bit of grumbling about this new system (especially by the peasantry), it was accepted easily enough.

At last! Everything was as ready as we could possibly make it.

All that remained now was the spark that would set off the war….

OoO

We did not have to wait long. The sharp skirmishes that had been seen in late 1418 turned to full scale war on New Year’s Day, 1419, when the English King and his Burgundian allies invaded Paris and began marching all over the territories of a newly-born France.

The English King himself led a vast contingent of troops to Orleanais, and began a terrible siege in that fair Duchy, and everywhere, French forces were in retreat.

Some months earlier, our Duke had penned the following letter to the Dauphin of France:

Great Cousin,

Long have we admired your struggle against your English oppressors. Your courage in that fight is both inspirational and courageous. I am writing to you this day, to pledge myself and the service of my lands and my stout-hearted men to the future of France. Quite simply, we wish to see France born. We wish to see France be. Free, independent, and not dictated to by a haughty and arrogant English dog of a man.

Having made this pledge, know that I expect nothing in return from you. This is a worthy and Noble fight, and one we stand ready to make with you....as peers fighting separately if we must, as faithful members of the French alliance if it pleases you. Either way, however, know that we intend to make your struggle our own.

With deep respect,
Charles II, of Lothrengen

and with it, we set things in motion.

It was historic, that letter, and to this day, it remains enshrined in our national museum in Nancy as being the letter that put our tiny nation on the path to greatness. Charles the Second, of Lothrengen is lauded as being a visionary. A man born before his time.

Indeed.

Well, with a bit of help from a man from another time, but that’ll be our little secret.

So it was, that on All Fool’s Day, in the year of our Lord 1419, the tiny Duchy of Lorraine, a friend of the Dauphin of France, but not a formal ally in any way, shocked the whole of the world by declaring a war against the English King, Henry the Fifth, and his Burgundian allies.

For his part, the Duke of Burgundy vowed that this abominable deed would not go unpunished, and vowed that Lorraine’s lands would soon be added to his own.

It was not an idle threat, for the Duke boasted an army much greater than our own, and there was a very real fear….a very real possibility that if the French did not press him hard enough, he could very well find himself with troops to spare to end our little adventure before it drew its first breath.

Nonetheless, having convinced Duke Charles of the rightness of this course of action, he needed no further prompting from me, and set his entire household to work round the clock to prosecute our war.

I was present during all of the meetings with the War Captains, all of which took place in the Duke’s small study behind the Throne Room. Very quickly, it became known simply as the “War Room.” A title which it still bears to this day.

On the day of our own declaration, the Dauphin of France had an impressive army laying siege to Bourgogne, so territory was of no pressing concern to us and ours, as the Duke could not hope to raise troops against us anywhere in the province. Franche Comte, however, was another matter. It lay just to our south, and was filled with people staunchly loyal to the Duke of Burgundy and his cause.

Before these folk could cause any trouble for us and ours, Francois was ordered to march some two thousand of our Infantry into that province to lock it down and stifle any attempts to raise troops there, while the remainder of our army remained where it was to guard Lorraine.

Oh how we would loved to have been able to march through French lands and strike at our enemies, but these were difficult times, with the war on, and we lacked formal permission from the Dauphin to do such things. To have done so without such clearly stated permission would have been seen as highly provocative, and perhaps even as a declaration of war against France, which we absolutely did not want, and so Charles followed diplomatic protocols to the letter, continuing regular communication with the French King as the war raged on around us, ultimately leading up to gaining formal military access with France on August, of 1419.

A month prior to our formal treaty of military access with France though, there were clear signs of cooperation amongst our various forces, as a massive force of some 19,000 men of Provence (loyal and long-time ally to the Dauphin), arrived in Comte to assist our siege efforts there.

With so many men in that territory, however, it began to take its toll upon our troops. We could not forage effectively for food, because the fields had been laid bare, and all the outlying townships had already been stripped of supplied by the approaching force from Provence, and despite our best efforts to prevent is, some of our bravest died of starvation on the fields of Comte as we began a formal siege there.

Having gained that boon, Colonel Jaeger wasted no time marching the balance of our army to Champagne to assess how best to strike at our Burgundian enemies.

Sadly, less than a fortnight after gaining military access through France, the Dauphin signed a peace agreement with the English, and mass thousands of French troops began retreating all along the French and English border. Worse, many of these troops passed through Champagne, where Colonel Jaeger’s army was stationed, and his troops suffered the same fate as his brother’s in Comte. We had yet to fight a battle with our enemies, and yet we were losing men!

I was aghast, but there was nothing I could do.

Still, my spirits soared when only days after these twin dark announcements reached our ears, we received a report of our first victory!

A small contingent of routed Burgundian cavalry retreated toward Comte in hopes of finding a safe haven to recover themselves in, and these were driven off by our forces and the force of Provence! A small victory, to be sure, but an important one, and it gave us confidence to proceed.

The fact of French peace with England and Burgundy, however, means that we are fighting the strongest alliance and the largest armies in Europe, alone. It is literally Lorraine alone against the Behemoth that is England, with Burgundy at their side. To say that there was terror in the Court of Lorraine is an understatement, for all present knew full well what our chances were, and there was much talk (even publically) about how few days the reining Duke of Lorraine had left to enjoy his position.

Nonetheless, the die had been cast, and we were committed to the cause.

We would triumph, or we would all perish in the attempt to do so.

With that thought in my mind, I ordered our forces in Comte to Bourgogne, and specifically, to surround the castle of the Duke of Burgundy and imprison him inside his own lands, while raising two thousand additional infantry in Nancy to keep Comte locked down until Colonel Jaeger could return from his foray into Northern Burgundy to lay in a proper siege of the Duke’s southern holdings.

And Colonel Jaeger wasted no time. Seeing the clear danger that was before us….Burgundy with no French to fight, he ordered the whole of his army to Artois, leaving a small contingent to surround the city of Arras and then to press more deeply into Burgundian territory.

The original strategy called for the capture of Arras before venturing further into Burgundian territory, but at that time, the thinking was that Burgundy’s armies would be facing French wrath. With the sudden peace, a change in plans was needed, and my early faith in Colonel Jaeger proved to be well founded. He read the situation accurately from his position in the field, and wasted no time marching further north to lock down all Burgundian territory.

One thing that worked very much in our favor here, was the fact that England and Burgundy were not on as close terms as we were with the Dauphin of France, and in fact, the Duke of Burgundy was deeply suspicious of the English King, and so utterly refused to allow even a single English soldier onto his lands, even as we began pillaging and ravaging his holdings.

On the down side, however, was the fact that although Jaeger clearly had the right idea, he was moving too slowly. Already there was talk of recruitment in Zeeland, and the Duke of Burgundy rebuilding his shattered (in truth, largely nonexistent, save for some 940 men garrisoned in Flandern) in the Low Countries and punishing us most harshly for our arrogance in declaring a war against them.

Nonetheless, our course was set, and there was nothing to be done but to play out the hand we had dealt for ourselves.

And so, our tiny nation held its breath to see what would become of us.

OoO

[Velociryx]

Lorraine's humble beginnings:

[Velociryx]

Fortunately, the Duke of Burgundy found his coffers all but empty, and in that, he was in far worse condition than we were. All he had the funds for was raising some three thousand Infantry in Zeeland, and these, he sent with all speed to the relief of Flandern, which Colonel Jaeger had handily taken from the tiny garrison guarding the place, killing most, and sending the few survivors running for the relative safety of Zeeland.

The new infantry recruits arrived only days after Jaeger had defeated the Flandres garrison, and these too, ill-trained and with shaky morale, were defeated.

As before, in Artois, Jaeger left just enough troops in Flandres to guard against additional recruitment there, and was off again, pursuing our enemies into the marshes of Zeeland.

Slightly more than a month later, the army of our enemy is routed again, reduced to next to nothing, and the survivors were forced to flee to the Burgundian Duke’s last remaining province, Holland. Sadly, Colonel Jaeger’s “army” is not in much better spirits or condition than that of our enemy, having been reduced through dint of hard fighting and by leaving covering forces in the various lands of our enemies to less than two thousand souls. Our proud lines of cavalry are no more. All dead in Flandres and Zeeland. So much noble blood spilled, and yet, the war is still in its early stages.

OoO

I was desperate.

I knew all too well that if even one Burgundian province remained free, it could prove to be our undoing, and so, I set out on a frantic search for someone, anyone who might lend an ear, and a purse full of gold to our cause, and help us in our fight.

Fortunately, my earlier contact with the Fugger family proved helpful here, and the Fugger family extended a personal loan to our Duke, using the lands of Lorraine themselves as collateral.

Suddenly flush with cash, I, as the Master of Arms for the Duchy, ordered the conscription of a staggering eight thousand new infantry recruits.

I knew Jaeger, and his fondness for cavalry, and although at that time I was unaware that he had no cavalry at all, I knew that had he been in the room with me, ordering the conscriptions, he would have pressed hard for additional cavalry.

Sadly, I had to make every coin count, and to find suitable mounts, train them and prepare them for war, to train and armor riders and make sufficient barding…all of this would have been far too costly for our treasury to stand. Infantry were easier and cheaper to train, so infantry it was.

If there was a bright spot in all these goings on, it was that in October of 1419 the Dauphin of France formally recognized our contributions to his cause and extended an invitation into the French Alliance family. It was an honor we had long hoped for, and one which we were proud to accept. The French King had acknowledged us! Heady stuff, that. Well….mostly. It would have been magnificent, save for the fact that shortly after we had officially joined ranks with the members of the French Alliance, Provence, loyal ally to the Dauphin of France, and one of our Peer Nations, took it upon themselves to declare a war against neighboring Savoy. We found this turn of events not to our liking at all, and yet, we saw it as a test….as the newest alliance member, all eyes were upon Lorraine to see if we would honor our obligations or turn tail and run, and what could we do? Even if we had no troops to add to this latest military “adventure” how would it look if we did not support the war in name in name if nothing else….so of course, we did just that.

But…where was I? Oh yes, the new troops stand ready to serve by the dawning of 1420, and two thousand of these are ordered to Comte, and thence to Bourgogne, with as many men from Comte as can be spared. Thankfully, this gives us just enough manpower in the Burgundian capitol to begin a proper siege there, and while these maneuverings are occurring, the remaining six thousand infantry begin the long march to Zeeland to join Colonel Jaeger and give his army some badly needed teeth again.

Finally, in early May, the six thousand new recruits arrive in Zeeland, and Jaeger leaves a small detachment behind and invades Holland, where the last of the Burgundian army (some 1250 souls) has dug in and awaits.

I have been to the battlefield in Holland, and I can only imagine how desperate the fighting must have been. Nearly two thousand of our best were lost in the fourteen day battle that raged though Holland, but in the end, Jaeger was victorious, and only some four hundred of our enemy escaped to neighboring Geldre to regroup, vowing to exact a harsh vengeance against us.

Sadly, the toll taken by Jaeger’s army left him not quite enough troops to begin a proper siege there, and so, in response to these events, I had no choice but to raise an additional one thousand infantry to ship northward to begin a proper siege there.

That done, however, it was simply a waiting game. We had done it! The Duke of Burgundy still refused to allow so much as a single Englishman onto his lands, and we were in full control of those lands, with two proper sieges in progress.

[Velociryx]

Riding the Burgundian Tiger in the South....

[Velociryx]

Even when Bourgogne fell in December of 1420, and the Duke of Burgundy was forced to flee to England, he remained adamant in his refusal to call for English aid to rescue his lands, and so, we kept right on pillaging and sieging, moving our Bourgogne force to Comte to begin a proper siege there, and biding our time.

1421 passed very quietly as we waited, but ultimately, we were rewarded with the capture of Zeeland in August, and Comte in September.

But let us speak of something else for a time, lest you think that the only thing we were focused on during all these happenings was our warmongering.

Tis true, that was where the greater bulk of our attention rested, and rightly enough. It is not every day that a tiny Germanic Principality rises up to challenge the greatest alliance in all of Europe, but there were other happenings of note as well.

First and foremost was that some of our learned men in Nancy demonstrated, and then implemented new farming techniques, bringing about a minor Agricultural Revolution in Lorraine, and contributed to our badly needed manpower. Some might say that this revolution came about as a direct result of my conscripting so many able bodied men into the military and that because of this, new farming methods were needed if we were to continue to feed everyone. I do not know the truth of these words, but it warms my heart to think that even while focused on military concerns, I may have done something to affect Lorraine positively in more peaceful areas as well.

And then there was diplomacy. We kept our Diplomatic Corps quite busy with all the great doings at Court, and as you might guess, many of our Germanic neighbors were both startled and frightened by our bold proclamation, and uneasy as to what it might mean for them and their future.

To that end, I saw to it that many of the more attractive female cousins, nieces, and eligible Aunts of the Duke’s family were married off in arranged marriages with our German neighbors (specifically Cologne, Kleves, Pfalz, and Munster) in an effort to ease their concerns.

Also, lest you think me careless or neglectful, it was a right joyous year in that Lady Isabelle of Lorraine (the only child of our beloved Duke) found a husband in one Rene d'Anjou, a handsome and steady Frenchman whom I had liked immensely on first meeting him. He was good to the girl, who had grown into quite a lovely woman. Yes...they made a good pairing, and further, when the day came that our glorious Duke died, I could sense that Rene would make a more than worthy successor.

So…a busy time all ‘round, but yes, you probably want me to get back to tales of our warring, so….

Francois, flush with the success of two sieges and one battle victory, consolidated his forces (slightly more than six thousand now) and marched to Lyonnais to begin assessing how he might take the war to the English. He did this, it should be noted, without prompting of any kind from me, and for that, I was mightily pleased and proud. My field generals were performing admirably indeed, and it was good to see.

OoO

The waiting game continued on through the next year, and I found myself with little to do on the military front. Perhaps I had chosen my field commanders a bit too well, for they were, without any prompting from me, prosecuting our war with an almost spooky precision….not that that was a bad thing.

So…I used the time as well as I could, turning my attention to thoughts of repaying the generous loan extended to us by the Fugger family, and to that end, I met with our Chief Tax Collector and discussed the possibility of minting coin to help pay the loan back.

After two days of intense discussion, we had worked out a plan that would enable us to do so quite handily, while minimizing the impact of inflation on our tiny nation. Imagine! A simple soldier like me leading discussions on topics like national minting and inflation policies! I was as stunned by the turn of events as anyone, but found myself warming very quickly to my role. In short, I enjoyed the growing amount of respect I was gaining in the Duchy, the friendship I had developed with Duke Charles, and yes, I was enjoying my power and authority very much indeed. Ahhh, but those were heady days!

Having seen to this important bit of administrivia, I turned my attention next to drafting papers and working with some of our learned men regarding ways and means of improving the nation’s road system. This led to a general increase in efficiency by allowing the faster, easier hauling of goods, both finished and unfinished to various parts of our realm (OOC: Infrastructure to L2 in April of 1422). And then….I, along with everyone else in the Court of Lorraine, continued to wait as reports from the front filtered in.

And our military commanders did not dissappoint! In the south, Francois sensed a golden opportunity in defenseless Poitou, and led our “Southern Army” as it was called in those days, into that province to begin our first siege against the English. True, there was a garrison of some two thousand English troops stationed in nearby Gascogne, but Francois had chosen his ground well, and if the English deigned to attack, they would be forced to do so cross-river, which would give our forces a badly needed tactical advantage. Again, this was done with no prompting from me, and was an absolutely masterful move.

By September, Francois proves himself to be quite the Siege Commander, and the walls of Poitou crumble before him in nine short months!

Perhaps it was ill-timed communication (I learned later that Francois intercepted runners from Poitou on three separate occasions as the English Garrison Commander tried desperately to rouse the Gascogne Contingent to come to their rescue and break the siege), but the English troops stationed in Gascogne did not sally forth until after the province had already been captured, and in a fierce fight, Francois threw them back across the river, and then pursued them into Gascogne with plans to besiege that territory as well!

Sadly, things were going rather slowly in the north, as Colonel Jaeger had the unenviable task of coordinating the efforts of more troops than he had been trained to command, covering a vast swath of land. The sieges there seemed stalled, and I felt for the man. He had a brutal, unglamorous task, and yet, I thought he handled the whole thing remarkably well.

While all of this was going on, some of our folk learned in the ways of money-lending and trade were able to impress upon an increasing number of our merchant folk the importance of regional-level trade as it related to our nation as a whole, and this growing understanding helped our tradesmen immensely (OOC: Trade Level rises to 2 in October 1422).

In 1423, with our “Impossible War” as it had long been dubbed, entering its fourth year, I took a chance, spent some of the nation’s treasury, and raised an additional four thousand infantry in a bid to help bring this war to a close. The people were getting restless, and were growing weary of the almost constant barrage of War Taxes I was urging be levied against them (all part of our plan to raise sufficient coin to repay the Fuggers’ loan when the time came), and the troops were badly needed, especially in the north, where the sieges seemed to have stalled out.

It was just the injection that the north needed, too.

Never mind that not long after my new recruits arrived in Artois a rebellion took place there as some six thousand dissatisfied souls from Arras and outlying townships rose up against us and tried to throw off our forces there in the name of the Duke of Burgundy. Perhaps then, it was good fortune that I had raised those recruits, because without them, the scant force there would surely have been overrun, and had that happened, the Duke of Burgundy could have begun recruiting an army to crush us….so yes, on balance, the Lord God smiled upon us even in that!

By February, Zeeland finally succumbs to Colonel Jaeger’s constant attention, and the bulk of his force shifts to Flandres, while some are siphoned off to Artois, so that we can maintain sieges in both locations.

In the south, dark news, as the English land some seven thousand troops under a fearsome general named Gloucester to begin undoing our work there and recapture that province. Time, I feared, was running out for us. If we could not bring the war to a close soon, then the awesome might of England would be brought to bear on our tiny-but-daring armies, and the dream would die with them.

Thankfully, Arras was captured in August, with Flandres falling into our hands a scant two months later, and our two siege crews in the north began making for Calais and Caux, both in the hands of the English, and neither being guarded by even token garrisons. Once more, it seemed as though our war effort was gaining momentum!

With our forces in full control of Burgundian lands by October, we began earnest peace negotiations with the Duke of Burgundy. He proves to be arrogant and headstrong even in the face of total defeat, however, and it takes until December 5, 1424 to force him to accept our harsh terms of peace. For daring to resist the rising tide of France, the Duke of Burgundy is forced to cede the lands of Artois, Flandern, Comte, and Zeeland to Lorraine, as well as the full contents of his own national treasury. We put this money to good and immediate use, repaying the loan made to us by the Fuggers and appointing additional Tax Collectors in all our new holdings in order to formally incorporate them into our rapidly expanding nation! (OOC: Gain Comte, Artois, Zeeland, Flandern, and 275d!!! )

To add to the swirling confusion of these times, however, while we are still heavily focused on the war with England, French-ally Provence declares a war against neighboring Brittany, and while we cannot hope to contend with the might of England as well as contribute to the war against Brittany, we nonetheless honor our treaty obligations and support the war effort in spirit if not materially.

By 1425, with our tiny Duchy not-so-tiny any more, and flush with cash, we are a nation of restored confidence and renewed determination. Yes, we are tired. Our people are tired. This war has been both draining and utterly exhausting, and yet, the “Impossible War” that no one thought we could win is being won! We are doing it! Standing against the mightiest nation in Europe and winning!

In April, Caux is captured from England, and in May, Calais suffers a similar "fate." The English King Henry comes to us with a generous offer of 326d for peace, but we steadfastly refuse this offer. I know, because I was present at the negotiations, and I believe the exact words of our Duke were: “We desire your lands, not your money!”

In late May, with Gloucester still mired in the siege of Poitou, Gascogne falls into our hands, and the English revise their peace offering, ceding the lands of Calais, Caux, and Poitou to us!

Never in my wildest imaginings did I envision that we would reap such a tremendous boon from our war, but we did it! We won the war that no one thought was winnable! Not only that, we grew stronger more quickly than I ever thought possible….in fact, our territorial holdings had increased to the point that we rivaled the Dauphin of France in sheer size and importance in the region! Our impossible war was at and end!

Having won this impossible war, the Lord of Brittany comes to us quietly and offers us a White Peace, which we are only too glad to accept. Our People and our Land has suffered greatly during our long struggle, and what is now needed is a period of peace to consolidate our gains…..

OoO

[Velociryx]

Even after the troops had returned home, I had a hard time believing it…as did our Duke. The Duchy of Lorraine had certainly earned the title of “Grand Duchy” thanks to our stellar performance in our war, and this title was, in fact, formally granted by His Holiness, the Pope, not long after the formal surrender of England to our forces.

For my part, I suddenly found myself with too much to do, and not enough time to do it in. We had vastly expanded our lands, and there were a great many Tax Collectors to appoint. We now had ports in Europe, and I began thinking in terms of building a fleet for Lorraine. Then there was the matter of military defense.

After consulting with our men learned in such things, it became apparent that for all our newly acquired land, we lacked sufficient manpower that was steadfastly loyal to our cause in these new territories to maintain order easily in them.

It would take time for the populations of our new territories to come to see the glories of living under our rule, and those territories contained a great many men loyal to their former masters….so it would be a time of treading carefully for us then.

Ultimately, I took a gamble, and decided that our best hope for a viable defense of these new and scattered holdings would be to center our forces around two locations. Francois would return to Poitou with a strong contingent of five thousand infantry and a thousand horse troops, and Colonel Jaeger would march back through French lands to Artois with approximately twice that number. As for Nancy and the rest of Lothrengen herself, and neighboring Comte….we would just have to hope that rebellion did not find us, or if it did, that Colonel Jaeger could march to our rescue in a timely fashion…it was the best we could do.

It took us until the Summer Solstace of 1426 to arrange our defenses thusly and begin to sort ourselves out, but by that time, I was sure of it. This was no fluke. No accident. Lorraine’s star was rising, and our population was recovering from the trials of this war.

The Grand Duchy of Lorraine had been born, and there was simply no telling how far our star might rise.

OoO

[Velociryx]

Ours was a proud alliance indeed. France, Lorraine, Scotland, Orleanais, Auvergne, and Provence. Perhaps not the world’s most powerful alliance, but we were strong and free.

That is, at least until the Dauphin’s “proclamation.”

It seemed that the dream of France only had room for one King, and the Dauphin made it clear that it would be him and his line. The rest of us (excluding Scotland, of course), would ultimately have to bow before the Dauphin on bended knee.

This was not an alliance of equals. France saw herself as the undisputed Master….a thing that did not sit well with her satellites, especially Grand Duke Charles, of Lothrengen. He and his held as much territorial sway as France, and he saw no reason why we should bow before the French, who caved in after mere months of fighting the English and Burgundians…not like Lorraine, who spent more than five long years fighting those same enemies single-handedly, and who had emerged victorious from that fight.

So yes, Duke Charles was more than a bit upset by the Dauphin’s “proclamation” and he was not alone.

The Duke of Orleanais was so incensed by it that he promptly cancelled his Duchy’s vassalization with France, and declared that he would go his own way…pursue his own vision of a French Kingdom.

Needless to say, this did not sit well with the Dauphin, who promptly declared a war against upstart Orleanais to make an example of them and cow the rest of us into submission.

I was aghast by the Dauphin’s behavior, as was our Duke, who was strongly in favor of forging a separate alliance with Orleanais and casting our lot with them.

That thought terrified me to my soul, for as noble and right as the Duke of Orleanais was, his was a doomed ship that was already sinking. The French army was strong….stronger by far than our own, and had we cast our lot with that noble Duke, France and her allies would surely have devoured us in those days, so we bitterly went along with the French King’s war with their rebellious neighbor.

Mercifully, it was a short war, and in under a year’s time, the Duchy of Orleanais was no more, having been absorbed by an ever-more powerful France.

Nonetheless, that proclamation and the short war that followed laid all the groundwork that needed to be laid for what was to come next.

OoO

“As I see it, My Lord Duke, there is only one choice to be made. It becomes increasingly clear that the French King will eventually demand our submission as well, as soon as he has absorbed all of his lesser vassals, and if we are not strong enough to resist him, he will have his way and undo all our work to date!”

“I fear you are right, old friend.” The Duke replied, and I could not help but notice how our long war with England and Burgundy had aged him. There had not been a gray hair on his head when our war began, and now….it was nearly solid white.

My hair, on the other hand, looked exactly as it had when I had first arrived…a fact which the Duke had noticed as well, and commented on more than once.

I didn’t know what to make of it, honestly.

I knew I felt older…I just didn’t look it.

Very strange, but with all that was going on, I scarcely had time to contemplate it.

“I know that look.” My Duke told me as he guided me back to the “War Room.” “So…why don’t we sit here a spell, and I shall let my most trusted advisor tell me the plan that is formulating in his mind.”

“Very well, Your Highness, and yes, I have given the matter a great deal of thought….”

Again, we talked long into the night….

OoO

“You know,” the Duke told me when I had finished outlining my plan to him. “When I first met you, I thought you to be entirely insane….never in my wildest imaginings did I envision your plan working out as it did, and yet….you were right.”

“And now?”

My friend smiled a weary smile. “And now….now I know beyond all doubting that there is no man in the whole of Europe who is more insane…or more dangerous. Your plan is both brilliant and inspired, Erich, and I’m just glad you’re on my side. I have never seen a more cunning mind at work than the one you have displayed here with me.”

“You like?” I asked him.

“Absolutely brilliant!” He replied. “And I shall begin mending fences with England and Burgundy at once…..God willing, we will be able to leave this cursed alliance with France, and throw in with our former enemies to show them the flawed and frail nature of the dream of “France.”

God.

I could not have loved that man more in that moment had he been my own brother.

He was hooked.

Utterly convinced.

And I knew that Lorraine would grow again, and soon!

OoO

True to his word, Grand Duke Charles the Second of Lothrengen began immediately and quietly mending fences with England and Burgundy, throwing an occasional missive toward Geldre, who was allied to both her larger cousins, but who also sported an impressive forty thousand man army in the low countries.

Oh yes! To be a part of the most powerful alliance in Europe! If we could pull that off (and given our Duke’s silver tongue when it came to diplomacy, I felt certain that we could), then we would be poised for all but unstoppable growth!

The rebirth of the Empire of Charlemagne. That was what I had sold our beloved leader on, and he had been thrilled! Utterly thrilled.

I was a happy man.

OoO

Sadly, Duke Charles the Second (also called the Bold by those who knew him), died quietly in his sleep in January 1431, just over five years after our stunning victory over England and Burgundy. In that time, however, he had warmed relations with our former enemies, and our nations were now on quite friendly terms with them, and he had accomplished all that without the French King’s knowledge. A testament to both his will as a leader and to his diplomatic skill.

His only child and lovely daughter Isabelle ascended to the throne of Lothrengen, deferring to her husband, Rene I, d'Anjou in all things regarding the rule of the nation.

Rene was a fine, strong and robust Frenchman with whom I had had many informal dealings since his marriage to Isabelle, and I saw in him, many traits in common with my beloved friend and Duke, and I knew from the start that I could work with him, but I also knew that it would take time to forge the sort of trust and friendship I had known with Charles. Nonetheless, I felt certain I could win him over and convince him to follow in Charles’ footsteps.

Alas, that is a story for another time.

Summary and Key Events in the Reign of Charles II

* War with England and Burgundy, the most powerful alliance in all of Europe. This war saw Lorraine fight both Burgundy and England single-handedly for more than five years, and win against them despite overwhelming odds. It saw Lorraine’s provincial holdings in Europe go from one to eight (including a valuable Center of Trade (Flandern), and her economic might rise from 85th to 26th in the world. It also gave Lorraine valuable ports, and brought us from being a landlocked nation to being a nation with maritime potential, not realized in the Duke’s lifetime.

* Entrance into the French Alliance

* Mending of relations with England and Burgundy

By itself, the list does not seem particularly long, but the importance of the first item on the list simply cannot be overstated. Lorraine fought both savagely and intelligently under Duke Charles’ leadership, and although I was always present in the background, guiding and directing, the victories, in this case…the hallmarks of this Duke’s rule are entirely his, and he deserves sole credit for them.

Lorraine has never had a leader quite like Charles the Bold of Lothrengen, and she likely never will.

He was a good man, and a dear friend, and I shall miss him greatly. I miss him to this day.

End of Segment One

[OoO]

[Velociryx]

The Reign of Rene I d’Anjou 1431 – 1453
Taking Fire from the French Dragon….

[Velociryx]

I was living a nightmare. One from which there was no waking.

My friend, my companion, my Duke was gone, and I remained.

Not alone, no….but as the realization that I had not aged a day in my more than ten-years of service to Charles sunk in….as the full weight of the implications that came with that realization hit home, I was filled up with a nameless, formless terror, and truly felt….alone.

How long would this condition last, I wondered.

Was it permanent? Would I be doomed to live forever….to always watch those dear to me wither and die while I lingered on like some ghost-too-attached-to-his-flesh?

What sort of ghoul did that make me?

I was horrified.

That, coupled with the loss of my dear friend made me withdraw into myself for a time.

Oh, I tried, mind you.

Went through the motions and attempted to put my best face forward, but I knew that everyone around me could tell. They could sense the difference, and it only seemed to widen the gulf between me and them. My reality and theirs.

I spent weeks in that sorry state, and then slowly began to pull myself out of it with a realization of another sort.

True, I could not risk loving too deeply, nor could I let my guard down fully around anyone, for fear that their passing would crush me utterly, and leave me a wasted shell, alive but not living.

But that was only one possible future.

Another was that I could use this gift of unnatural long life to apply a single-minded focus to shaping and molding the Grand Duchy of Lorraine, guiding her in ways, over the course of….however long this “condition” lasted that would be impossible otherwise.

In short, given my position, it would be possible for me to do more than make a mild impact on the future and destiny of Lorraine….I could sculpt her…for….possibly centuries.

And so it was that those thoughts pulled me out of the shell I had created for myself, and back into the intrigues and inner workings of the Court of Lorraine.

While I was…not quite myself, the new Duke of Lorraine certainly had his hands full. As Charles had done before him, he saw the wisdom in continuing to mend fences with our former enemies, and set about to continue that work, and in that, he was even more successful than Charles had been. An even more savvy diplomat than his predecessor.

That surprised me some, and made me proud indeed.

Even when I was at my darkest, however, I could not help but keep my ear to the ground to stay apprised of the great events that were sweeping through Europe, like the fact that the Hapsburgs, dissatisfied with England’s dominant position in Europe, had decided to take them to task for it (or at least attempt to), sparking a vast war that swirled all ‘round us as Austria and her various Germanic allies attempted to break the power of England.

From what I could tell, the war was mostly talk and little action. There were only a few engagements, mostly of middling size, with neither side really having much of an effect on the other. A “show” rather than a war then.

So be it.

Let them exhaust themselves. The only potential problem I saw it posing for us was that the longer the war dragged out, the longer we would have to wait before joining the English alliance, as I was none too fond of the notion of joining them and suddenly finding mass thousands of enemy soldiers streaming across our borders.

Duke Rene didn’t seem fond of that idea either, but the kindly worded missives to our future alliance family continued unabated.

Some of the German Princes not allied to Austria didn’t share our largely nonchalant view of things, however, especially not the men of Saxony, who used the war between Austria and England as an excuse to “punish” the Austrians for their arrogance, declaring a bold and vicious war against them which eventually saw them strip two valuable provinces from Austria and Austrian ally, Baden, though what the Saxons would want with a piece of the Swiss Alps was beyond my comprehension.

Nonetheless, Austria was a rising star much like we were, and if something happened to dim her fortunes, even briefly, it had to be seen as an indirect boon to us, and so I was heartened somewhat by these events.

While we were waiting…biding our time for England’s latest war to die down to a simmer before making our own “proclamation” against France, the Duke of Burgundy annexed his long-time vassal in Brabant, greatly angering the Court and undoing much of our work with them. It took all of Rene’s skill in diplomacy to turn the tide and spin the annexation in a positive light, focusing on our impending alliance with England (and by extension, Burgundy), and highlighting the fact that in that case, a stronger Burgundy was very much to our advantage.

He won the point, and relations with Burgundy began improving at a rapid clip again.

By the time I had fully recovered myself, Duke Rene had arranged treaties of military access with Burgundy in preparation for our eventual alliance with him (England was still proving somewhat difficult in that regard, but I had every confidence that they’d come around….Rene was simply too compelling to be ignored).

For my part, upon almost-fully returning to active duty in the Court, I urged a series of Royal Marriages with the Kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, on the thinking that once we ran afoul of the French King, we would need as many friendly relations as we could get, especially if they were near to France.

Rene saw the wisdom in this line of thinking, and took steps to make it so, hand-selecting a number of his lovliest cousins to be married off for that very purpose.

And so, we continued to recover and grow stronger, and even the land itself seemed to enjoy the strength and vigor of our new Duke. (OOC: Exceptional year, which adds 100d to our treasury and undoes the inflation we took on during our war against England and Burgundy!)

Like the land, I found myself warming to his leadership as well….

OoO

[Velociryx]

“With child?” The phrase sounded strange coming from my mouth, so I said it again. “Isabelle is….with child?”

Even with a second saying, I couldn’t quite believe it. Not the little girl sitting at her father’s feet as I embarrassed myself by trying (and failing miserably) at the role of Jester. “How did this happen?”

“The usual way, I assure you.” Rene told me with a wink and a hearty laugh.

I felt myself flush. “I…I mean…when? Where was I?”

Rene laughed again, a rich, melodic sound. “I fear, my friend, that your powers of observation are not what they once were…she’s some three months along now.”

I knew I had been a bit out of sorts, but really. How humiliating to have not known something like that. “’tis true….of late I have not been myself, but I….I am returning now.”

The Duke nodded. “I know, and do not worry yourself over it. You and Charles were like brothers…his death hit us all hard, but you especially. It was in your eyes….still is, in some ways.”

That was certainly true enough, and I sighed deeply. “Yes…there can be no denying it, but you are my Lord and Liege now, and you deserve the full measure of my attention.”

“And your friend…that, before all else.” Rene assured me as he clapped me on the back. “And as my friend, won’t you dine with me in the War Room this evening, there is much to discuss!”

Smiling, I tipped my head in acceptance, and just like that, I had returned.

OoO

“I agree.” I told him after he had briefed me on the numerous “other things” I had missed while being so self absorbed. “Tis a great sorrow that Byzantium is no more, but a boon for us in the same breath….if we have merchants available, we should send them with all speed to the new Center of Trade in Thrace….get ourselves established before the competition heats up.”

“My thoughts exactly, and we shall move quickly to make it so!”

[Velociryx]

“And what of our relations with our neighbors, my Lord Duke.”

“I do wish you wouldn’t call me that…it sounds so….blasted formal!”

I grinned. “Of course…my Lord Duke.”

He rolled his eyes at me and we continued to banter back and forth, bouncing ideas off of each other, tossing out random thoughts just to see where they led.

Charles and I had never done that. He was the Duke, first and foremost. He regarded it as an unceasing job….not so with Rene…he wore his power lightly, and was sometimes almost flippant about his station. Never in public of course, but around me, he felt at-ease enough to let down his guard. He rarely stood on formality when we were alone (only twice in his life, as I recall), and much preferred an open exchange of ideas between equals than an Advisor reporting to his Duke.

That suited me fine, and in fact, made for a refreshing change. Had he been “too similar” to Charles, I may have found it difficult to work with him, but although there were similarities, there were stark contrasts as well. Charles’ formality and strict adherence to protocols versus Rene’s devil-may-care attitude. And Rene was so buoyant and light-hearted that it was all but impossible not to warm up to the man. That, more than any other quality, is what made him an even better diplomat than Charles had been, I decided.

And speaking of Diplomacy, our new Duke was a blur of activity on that front, with missives and words of kindness and encouragement flying as fast and furious as we could arrange couriers to bear them to the various leaders that Rene was in contact with. True, our aggressive stance against England and Burgundy had both startled and frightened many of our near neighbors, and in some cases (Baden in particular, who had devoured our beloved Alsace), it was their own actions which turned the popular opinion of our Court against them, but Rene had been able to undo much of this through patience, tact, and diplomatic dealings, such that by the dawning of 1433, relations with many of our near neighbors had warmed remarkably.