I’ve been putting more time into CK3 and for me, this game is more about the stories than the moment-to-moment gameplay. Starting as the Petty King of Munster in 1066, my grandson, Brian, was able to create the Kingdom of Ireland after convincing his uncle to join the Petty Kingdom of Ulster to the realm. King Brian’s wife recently died and a he found a prospective wife in the spunky Duchess of Iceland, Svanhildr. Svanhildr was responsible for several raids into Ireland over the past few years, but Brian figured that marrying her would stop the raids and, as a bonus, his family would eventually inherit Iceland down the road.
A few months into the marriage, Svanhildr got pregnant… by one of her courtiers. The chaste Brian was disgusted and quickly divorced the adulteress, fornicating torturer (I guess he should have looked more closely at her bio). In fact, Brian was so upset that he immediately set out to fabricate claims on both counties in Iceland. After a few years, Brian declared war and, although he had a few allies, decided that this war was personal and would not have any need of their help. After all, he had a 3:2 ratio of superiority and immediately set sail for Reykjavik. There were a few factors that weren’t in Brian’s favor, however. First, Reykjavik is in terrain favorable to the defender. Second, Svanhildr wasn’t a successful raider for those past many years because she employed untrained peasant levies. Third, although Brian decided not to call on his allies, Svanhildr did. Brian’s army of “knights” (a collection of lackeys whose prowess averaged a 9) and peasants got trounced at the very moment one of my allies called for help to settle affairs in northern France. Brian decided to bail out to help his ally and Svanhildr accepted a white peace. But Brian would have his revenge.
Brian took his exhausted army from Iceland to France to offer some assistance to the Duke of Lorraine. It soon became apparent that things weren’t looking favorable for the good Duke and Brian had to get out of northern France before the Duke’s enemies caught up to him. While Brian’s army was embarking on ships in Cherbourg, a 6,000-man army caught up to them and laid waste to everyone. Half of Brian’s advisors were killed or captured, and the Irish expeditionary force was no more. At the exact moment Brian arrived home to reassemble his broken army, Svanhildr showed up with 1500 raiders at the gates of the capital.
After the raiders took their fill and left for home, Brian took the next three years to rebuild his army and his kingdom. He moved the capital to Dublin, sent out a call for knights, invested in some men-at-arms, and built new alliances with better warlords. He also remarried a good Irish girl who stayed true to the end. Several years later, Brian went back to Iceland with a 2,000-man army supported by 7,500 French soldiers and took Vasterland, the eastern Icelandic county. His new chancellor figured out a way (through a random event) to end the truce after only a few months, and Brian went back and finished the job. Poor Svanhildr became a landless noble and her raiding days were over. She eventually died of old age but will never be forgotten. Brian’s successors have erased every trace of Norse culture from Iceland, but the story of the Dread Svanhildr has been passed down from generation to generation.