HRE NES II: Der Aufstieg

[Micha]

King Heinrich of Germany to all German Dukes (SECRET)

My brethren, I have come to the conclusion that the lives of many good Christians are worth more than those of a few noblemen, be they Kings or Counts. Thus I will designate a heir to the throne of Saxony and leave for Pressburg in the upcoming spring. If the Magyars are honorable, this will gain us peace on the east and the prospect of a future conversion. If they are filthy liars, my sacrifice might help us mobilize a sizeable Christian force against them in the near future.

I ask the noblemen of Germany to send one young maiden girl of noble blood to me in order to be married to a Magyar prince. Likewise, I also ask them to designate one unmarried man of noble blood to marry a Magyar princess, so that the peace can be sealed with blood.

Both families will be rewarded accordingly.

[Nimitz]

Duke Vratislaus of Bohemia to my lord King Heinrich of Germany[secret]
I will send you Niece or close relative of my family for the girl.

[appleciders]

Duke Arnulf of Bavaria to All German Dukes
I will request of my brother Eberhard that he accept a Magyar wife; I believe him to be as yet unmarried. My King, I honor your bravery in going personally to meet this threat, and I only regret that I will likely be unable to accompany you.

[foolish_icarus]

Originally posted by Duke Arnulf
I believe him to be as yet unmarried.

Who can ever keep track of what their brothers are doing, anyway?

Duke Eberhard to the secret circle of Dukes :

And what of the Italians? Perhaps we should request from some trusted, high ranking member of the clergy to help us pray and determine what God's will is in this matter.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by appleciders
I will request of my brother Eberhard that he accept a Magyar wife; I believe him to be as yet unmarried

This is correct.

[foolish_icarus]

Duke Eberhard of Franconia to Duke Burchard II of Swabia

Please forgive our tardiness in responding to your previous offer of trade. Due to a change in recent circumstances, perhaps you would care to trade 200 denarii of wine for 200 d. of silver?

[foolish_icarus]

Franconian Orders (more or less finished, I think)

Begin training 300 more levy troops.

Produce 75 sets of light armor using 75 iron
produce 100 shields
produce 100 spears, 100 swords, and 100 crossbows


Install Landgraf Hraban von Koblenze as one of my generals, reserving the other two for future use (don't worry, I won't be calling up any more generals for a while).

trade 200 denarii of Swabian wine for 200 d. of our silver

90 light armor goes to the Eastern Veterans Battalion to outfit each of the following:

20 Shield Guards
50 Pavise Archers
20 Light Skirmishers


The 1000 soldiers of the Bamberg Guard will be equipped out of the armory thus:

200 Heavy armor, polearms
100 Heavy armor, shields, spears
50 Light armor, bows
150 Light armor, bows, pavises
150 Light armor, swords, shields
150 Light armor, axes, shields
100 Light armor, spears
100 Light armor, javelins

Leaving only 10 sets of Light armor in the armory

The Bamberg Guard will, in fact, be split precisely in half to form two identically equipped contingents. One of those halves will stay to defend Franconia, under the command of Vizegraf Teutomar von Würzburg. The other half will be named The Weinsberg Battalion, under the command of Landgraf Hraban von Koblenze, and will go south with the other armies.


400 denarii will be spent to begin efforts to improve the quality of Franconian roads, which are by and large in unacceptable conditions for wartime. The capable Engineer Vizegraf Teutomar von Wurzburg will supervise.

Following mustering and outfitting, the Frankfurt Levy, Eastern Veterans Battalion, Conrad's Fist, and Weinsberg Battalion will all join up in Franconia and march south under the command of Duke Eberhard to meet with the other German armies and help defend the Eastern Alpine Passes, or otherwise react to the situation as needed.

Spend 300 d. to establish the necessary logistics trains to support and supply my troops (and if there's enough, those of my allies) on their trip and after their arrival in the hills/mountains.

Spend 50 d. to get some mathematicians or linguists or if nothing else some clever, loyal clergymen to create a (better) system of coding and decoding sensitive letters. Preferably it will not be just a jumble of letters in an obvious cipher, but rather will appear to be some mundane communication with a secret message hidden inside the body of the letter. This can be employed for very secretive exchanges between the dukes.


(OOC Note: I am using anachronistic placenames for the sake of clarity and simplicity).

Here is the plan my generals and I have arrived at. We are right now marching south, so please send by courier any intelligence or orders for alterations to the plan.

The armies will move south from Innsbruck to Vipiteno to Bressanone to Bolzano.
[essentially follow the modern roadway of the E45.]

If this route can be secured, further advance to Trento may be in order.
The Reschen Pass to the west also needs to be defended.
Trentino is our key defensive point. It has to be secured against advances from the south (Rovereto), the east, (via Arco and Riva or Tione di Trento), and the west (Pergine Valsugana).

If we can securely control Trento, we can advance via Rovereto to the south or Borgo to the east onto the Italian plain knowing we have secure lines of supply and withdrawal.

There is another option, but the terrain is more treacherous, although less easy to attack from the west. Go from Salzburg south, (via the E55) to Villach and then Friuli. At present we are planning on the former option, but there is still time to veer off and take this path.

So far, the committed troop numbers for the Alpine Campaign are-- Franconia: Just under 3200. Bohemia: 800. Bavaria: 2300.
For a current total of ~6300, somewhat fewer when the numbers for scouting, desertion, et al. are taken into account.

The current idea is for the Franconian and Bavarian contingents to hold the forward positions in the passes and at the edge of the Italian plain, while the Bohemian contingent secures the rear passes, guards our supply lines and paths of withdrawal, scouts the alternate passes for enemy flanking, and acts as an emergency reserve.


500 d. each from Bohemia and Bavaria can be used to bribe (delicately, of course. We must preserve the baron's sense of honor!) any reluctant Alpine noblemen or fort commanders. If we run into no such problems, great. Perhaps Berengar's vassals can be persuaded with a bit of coin and a display of strength if the opportunity arises. Of course, any who accept our coin or give their word of peace must offer ironclad promises, and woe to him that breaks his vow of fealty, be it ancient or newly sworn!
If the money isn't needed, it doesn't have to be spent.

aaand, finally, if any Saxon armies show up they can join the frontline rotation or otherwise be used where they're needed.

[Cyclotron]

Duke Burchard II of Swabia to Duke Eberhard of Franconia
I will certainly accept that trade.

[appleciders]

Bavarian Orders (incomplete):

Split my army into two armies as follows:
Army of Carinthia, under Markgraf Eberhard:
400 Medium Infantry (light, spear, shield, sword) and 200 Heavy Infantry (heavy, spear, shield, sword) under von Wein.
200 Siege Archers (light, bow, Magyar bow, pavise), 100 Thuringian Woodsmen under von Leitbach.
200 Medium Axemen (light, axe, shield), 120 Frankish Chivalry, 60 Norman Adventurers (or Carinthian chivalric equivilents, I suppose) under Markgraf Eberhard.

Army of Bavaria, under von Villach:
200 Long Axemen (light, axe, polearm, shield), 150 Danish Vikings under von Brenner.
490 Medium Infantry (light, spear, shield, sword) and 300 Heavy Infantry (heavy, spear, shield, sword) under von Tegernsee
300 Siege Archers (light, bow, Magyar bow, pavise), 200 Magyar Raiders, 100 Crossbowmen (crossbow, pavise) and 400 Thuringian Woodsmen under der Kroat.
70 Bavarian knights, 110 Bavarian sergeants under von Villach.

Renew the contracts for the Vikings and Woodsmen. Hire an additional 100 Thuringian Woodsmen, bringing the total to 500. Hire 200 Magyar Raiders. Release the Dalmatian Cavalry from the army. Call up 200 more soldiers for next turn, and 100 peasant crossbowmen for this turn. Call up 2 new generals, both of which should have at least a proficiency with siege warfare, and the Altgraf of Brixen, because I'd like to soldify my holdings south of the Alps and having him as a general might be a good way to do that. Assign von Tegernsee to the Army of Bavaria.

Produce 100 crossbows, 70 sets of light armor, 230 shields, and 100 swords with 285 d. from iron.

115 d. from stone to continue building the fortifications between Bavaria and Carinthia.

100 d. to continue to improve the road into Italy, Innsbruck, and Brixen, and up towards Salzburg.

50 d. to begin to reopen the iron mines in Carinthia.

50 d. to begin to repair the ring wall at Eppenstein.

50 d. to keep repairing and improving Vienna.

If necessary, up to 500 d. to "convincing" my trans-alpine nobility to support Germany.

Keep half of the Bavarian chivalry at home, lowering corruption and making the land as profitable as possible. Call up the other half and deploy them to the Army of Bavaria.

Strongly encourage Eberhard to dispatch all but 120 Carinthian sergeants and 60 Carinthian knights to their estates to begin to take stock of what they own and begin making the land productive again. Likewise, encourage Eberhard to parcel out land not only to the Frankish chivalry but to loyal Germans who deserve it as well. Finally, Eberhard should focus on recovering the iron mines near Eppenstein.

Encourage settlement of Carinthia by displaced Italians from Pula and Istria, as well as Slavs from Bohemia.

Refuedalize Carinthia. 23% to the Markgraf, 62% enfeoffed, 15% to the Church. Encourage Eberhard to begin to call up an army of his own, funded by the limited income from the Mark and from the hopefully more substantial income from the iron mines.

Recover the bodies of Zoltan and his horse and prepare to have them conveyed to Pressburg as fulfillment of the treaty offered.

Replace the Franconian, Bohemian, and Saxon trade routes with salt instead of Oriental goods until the trade route with Venice can be reinstated.

It's about time for Eberhard's spy network to be funded by him, so I'd like a report, and I understand that it'll be somewhat diminished because I'm not funding it so heavily.

OOC: Hey, can I get von Wein and von Brenner added to my list of generals? Thanks!

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by appleciders
OOC: Hey, can I get von Wein and von Brenner added to my list of generals? Thanks!

I've just searched everywhere, and I cannot for the life of me find von Wien. I don't think he was ever properly one of your "generals" - I have stats rolled up for him as a "NPC" general, but he's not actually one of your generals as far as I can tell. You can request that he be called up when you ask for generals this turn, however. Or, considering his political importance, you could just ask for him and save me the trouble of rolling up more generals, if he's just the guy you want.

Unless, of course, I have posted him here - in which case, please tell me where!

[Cyclotron]

Sorry that diplomacy just keeps trickling out; a lot happened this year "behind the scenes" and It's hard to remember it all sometimes!

King Edward of England to King Heinrich of Germany
My salutations to you, my fellow Christian monarch. I hope you will apologize for my late greetings; as you will understand, the Viking occupiers in my homeland have required my foremost attention.

I was eager to hear of a Saxon successor to the crown of Germany. My blood, too, is Saxon - as is that of my noble countrymen - and I know that you of the old country are subject to the same violations by the terrible Norsemen that my fair England is. My hope is that your kingship - a Saxon kingship - will direct the attention of your vassals upon the Norse, whose threat to all of Christendom cannot be denied.

I am getting to be an old man; my son will be a capable ruler, but I know well that my country needs allies. I wish closer relations with you and your kingdom that we might form a formidable North Sea alliance that would strike terror into the Norse. I look forward to the day when, instead of the Norse raiding Hamburg and London, it is we who set Stavanger and Aarhus to the torch.

That day is yet a long way off, but for now I offer to one of your sons the hand of my daughter, the Princess Eadwynn, that we might begin a relationship between our houses. I eagerly await your response, and hope that you are similarly inclined towards my proposed purpose.

[appleciders]

Von Wein changed his name- he used to be Geffery d'Evereaux, or something like that. You gave the usual one-paragraph prose description when the Venetians sent him up.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by appleciders
Von Wein changed his name- he used to be Geffery d'Evereaux, or something like that. You gave the usual one-paragraph prose description when the Venetians sent him up.

I'm aware of the name change, and I went over the pages surrounding his arrival, and I can't find anything. You may be thinking of the other Norman general candidate, Auvrey d'Normandie, who you passed over in an earlier round of general selection.

If I'm wrong and I'm just missing his paragraph, he still was never called up through the "formal" general selection process, so you can call him up this turn if you so desire.

I'll check again, but I have no record of his paragraph; the Venetians described him as "the worst kind of glory seeker" but to my knowledge that's all you've been told.

[appleciders]

OK. I'll just keep treating him the way I have been.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by appleciders
OK. I'll just keep treating him the way I have been.

Actually, since Carinthia is now a self-governed Markgrafschaft, and von Wien is the Count of Wien and the Wachau, he's really Eberhard's noble, and it's Eberhard's choice to call him up or not.

Consequently, this means that your other Carinthian general, von Leitbach, is also technically Eberhard's and not yours, though unless you have a falling out with Eberhard I don't imagine he'd demand von Leitbach's return.