Crusader Kings Round 2

Republishing 

Original : 1/14/20

Edited: 6/6/20

Featuring:
Melt - The Duke of East Anglia
UmU - The Duke of Mercia
Me as the King of England



We start in 936 AD
The Start of the Iron Century.
England is ruled by a King from the Royal family 'Of Sussex'
The rest of England is in pieces with 3 Main Duchies: Kent, Mercia and East Anglia
All the rest are unclaimed and so the Counts bicker among-st themselves.
The Kingdom allows Moderate Crown Authority which disallows internal Wars
However, the Kingdom of England has an Elective Monarchy, which is to say that all the Dukes have a shot at being King if they can get majority votes. This forms the butt of the issue as there exists a Triple Threat.

The 3 Main Duchies, Consolidated, are all under the same Family: 'Of Mercia'
Yes, meaning UmU and Melt are of the same ruling family here. I am alone against this Triumvirate. Individually I can match each of the Dukes but if they were to form an alliance together against me, which they can since they are family, this will be a short campaign for my ruler.
My coffers are empty, my vassals restless and my enemies fierce. Pagans keep trying to invade smaller realms up North, in Ireland and Wales.

My task is to stabilize my realm, since in Hindsight the Great Heathen Army will descend on me in the coming years and I need to be ready for them.
Initially I generously supported and gave concessions to UmU and Melt so they would be busy in their own matters.
All the while I worked to cut expenses and save up money in my coffers.
Any sign of weakness I give will be a signal for hell to break loose, so I kept my armies rallied and close.
There was the case of York which was still Norse so my Court Chaplain and Marshall were busy keeping order to prevent revolts there.
My Steward I kept busy in Collecting Taxes, which leaves me to make plays with either my Spymaster or Chancellor.
I slowly but surely won over some of the Minor Counts, the more upstart ones collected and formed Duchies.
I too formed Duchies and distributed them to whoever was loyal with whatever I could save.

Anyhow, checking in
My ruler has 2 Daughters which makes me quite happy with my Dynasty succession.
Melt and UmU though, are Oldies in their 60s and have no sons and daughters
So the first couple of years they rush to get married and lie in wait hoping the oldies would boink  and produce a heir for their realm.
UmU and Melt's fate was tied as the one who dies first, the other inherits their titles. This meant an instant game over for whoever dies first.
I played on this Paranoia and kept them pacified.

The 3rd Duke: Duke of Kent, He took the initiative. As I worked to slowly gather my strength and play off my enemies discreetly while winning over small counties, Kent had built a Support base and sought to challenge my rule. Not through a Rebellion but Factionalism
My Ruler spent his life stamping down dissent
Winning over Counties by Diplomacy and Gifts
Imprisoning Rebellious ones by Uncovering their Intrigue
I dealt with one two three Rebellions.
One in Lothian, One in Norfolk and One in Wessex
I managed to hold my ground. Finally, the moment of truth was when I found the Duke of Kent, my biggest rival and antagonist, plotting. This gave me an excuse to arrest him
I made a gambit and marched troops to his Capital with the Context of Military Exercises
There was rumor of Heathen Armies attacking from the Seas.



Using this and coupled with the Plot Allegation, I had the drop on the Duke of Kent!
I took his Capital and pacified Half of his Forces
I mopped up the rest and finally stabilized the realm, but sadly my Ruler did not Live long to see that.

My next Ruler built up the treasury, hosted feasts and won over the Kingdom through effective Diplomacy. Afterwards he pressed the Claims of Ancient England in the North.
I fought a minor Duke fighting heathens, I had to pay generously to the Pope for permission, as it was seen highly impious since the Duke was fighting Heathens.
Speaking of Which, Noregar aka The Kingdom of Norway had descended on the North and took the Highlands, what little remained of Scotland fought along with the rest of the Catholic Isles. Excluding me, I was busy stabilizing my realm. I took advantage and took my rightful land from the Duke. It was a necessary sacrifice.



To redeem myself in the eyes of the Catholic World. I went to war against the Great Noregar
Their Strength was 2,000 Men Strong and various Tribal allies that totaled up to 4,000 Men
All of the combined strength of the Isles was not enough to withstand them.

Except ofcourse, me
I was playing it smart
With my Technologically Advanced Army of 6,000 men
The Great English Army fought the biggest contingent of the Heathen Army in the North.
2,500 Norwegians fell as my Victory shook the Heathens





They laid siege to my Capital by having their warriors sail from Norway to London
I met them in the fields of Bedford and struck a devastating blow to 1,000 
The smaller Tribes trickled in, but one by one I squashed them all
Demoralized and Humiliated by the Invincible English army, The Heathens fell back to the Northern Highlands.
I secured the claims of England and quelled the Heathen Threat
For now....



Well that was all fun and Glorious
But now lets get real with what actually happened

1) RNG kept messing with UmU and Melt, as they waited and waited and waited for their rulers to produce heirs

2) Melt finally got lucky and got a Daughter, whom he named very appropriately



I am told it is a Profanity of the Extreme Degree, but it goes to show what Melt was feeling that he had to vent on finally getting an heir xD

3) UmU did not fare so well, he did find a Courtier who he liked a lot like he liked him very much, he was the best-est friend you could ever ask for!
And then he left, or so I heard xD

4) Down the line UmU started to catch on to my scheme of not having him man up on me with his familial lands, to which he demanded increasing gifts of gold to maintain his loyalty.
I obliged, (the trick is to give him the court jester title, he will make a big deal of it. Take the title away and give the gold claiming it was a gift. Ez Profit)

5) UmU finally got an heir!
After he attended one of my feasts, he came back to learn his wife got pregnant while he was away WHOOSH
It gave birth to a lovely girl, but it was evident that UmU was cucked.
He traced it down to be the Earl of Derby. He asked me to do something, but me being objective reasoned that the Earl is loyal and hasn't done any crime against the crown. If he has grievance then he can settle it like men. UmU couldn't since the Earl was very pro efficient in combat while UmU had an old hair bag for a ruler. He tried plotting against him to little avail.

6) UmU had another heir,
Credits to the Earl xD
this is "Be-careful what you wish for" in action right here.

7) UmU wanted to fabricate a claim and invade the Earl. Little does he know Vassal Wars and disallowed, but he persisted.
He went in search for a Chancellor since his was terrible with 3 skill
For the next 5 years he spent all his money hiring nobles who were all Exceptionally Genius Stewards but all were Terrible Chancellors with poor Diplomacy. UmU struggled and bashed his head on the keyboard in hopes of one. It never came to pass.

8) UmU decided to make his son spymaster and have him investigate the Earl to get him killed, unfortunately despite his skill. The Son was not an adult (under 16 years old) and so he had to wait for him to grow up

10) Melt's ruler finally kicked the bucket.
His 12 year old daughter as mentioned below took the reigns of rule.
 

There was little Melt could do now since it was a regency. With my realm stable now, I placed my Spymaster in Melt's Capital.
NO IM NOT GOING TO KILL HER 
yet...

We all agreed not to plot against each other until our Family size was at-least 50 (living)
Otherwise the game would end real fast.
So seeing as the house 'of Mercia' was declining fast and had only 6 members alive (I had put the Duke of Kent to the sword which left his only son)
Melts Duchess, Her Sister, UmU, UmU's 2 heirs, The young Duke of Kent.
So I placed my Spymaster to keep an eye out for plots that may wanted to target Melt

Plot Power was at 180% so I was tempted at first XD

As he had nothing to do, he sat and read A Certain Magical Index: New Testament 11-12
Not the Bible, its a Japanese Light Novel. I am sure Melt can go for hours talking about it, he is utterly invested in it.
So anyway he read that as he watched his Duchess come of age.
UmU tried in vain to kill the Earl who cucked him
I stabilized England and Kicked out the Heathens whilst restoring England's rightful borders.

That was all for this time since Melt had to go Sleep.

Until next time!

So I played Terraria

For those of you who don't know
Terraria is 2D Minecraft and a whole lot more
For those of you who don't know what Minecraft is
What are you doing?
Ahem

Terraria is a 2D Rogue Survival Adventure Game where you are thrown into a world with your own character. You have but one Objective: SURVIVE
You find yourself reaping from the land, foraging food, strangling bunnies and what not whilst exploring a vast Randomly Generated World. You can craft tools, weapons, armor to aid you. You can create a House or a Fort. Or you can seek to go underground and mine. The Underground is like a whole new world, with deep ravines filled treacherous travesties as well as tempting treasure.
However, there is a catch. Literally Everything is trying to Kill you!
And what isn't can likely kill you too!
Zombies, Skeletons, Vampires, Demonic Eyes, Flies, Blobs of Slime of all Colors and all sort of nightmares. Should you escape underground, you will be met with Earth Worms, Bats, Spiders and whatnot.
There are seasons and rain to worry about, on the blood moon comes Blood Zombies and other horrors hell bent on Killing you
Deep underground there are Blood Lakes and other crevasses.
If you seek refuge in the sky, there are floating Islands and other Wonders, even all the way up to Space. But then you get attacked by Space Zombies.

Yep.
Thats just what I have seen, and I have barely played for 4 hours!
I played it with Melt and UmU
Refer to Nicknames
And We had fun!
The game opens and the two are already 500 ft below ground. I make my way to a weird underground base and get equipped with some wood armor and weapons. I make my way down and witness the insanely huge and complex cave systems generated by the world, finally I reach down only to be eaten alive by Slime XD
My friends tried to remedy their situation with a potion, but UmU drank the wrong one by accident. It was a Recall Potion that sent them back home
That left Melt all alone in the underground, it wasn't long before he died xD

So now we are back up we decide to explore around a bit, we also needed some wood for crafting so we went on ahead. Sadly our plans were cut short when night fell and hordes of zombies and demon eyes terrorized us!

Apparently someone left our entrance open, so the Zombies flooded into our base!
We died a couple of times
Enough to riddle the entire surrounding landscape with Gravestones! (They drop whenever your character dies)
So after a long period of dying running and fighting, Dawn breaks and we head out!
We were playing softcore so we only lose gold, not items whenever our character dies. So that made the game really casual!
While me and Melt Chopped Trees. UmU decided to take to the skies, he kept stacking dirt blocks beneath him and went up
He found a floating Cloud Island! You can move around and harvest Cloud in this game!
You can use it to make Cloud Walls and stuff! Crazy.
So While he fooled around there, Melt followed him.
I went back and made a Metric Ton of Wooden Platforms which I used to make a literal stairway to heaven xD
That stairway connected to the sky Island. But UmU had already explored all of it and even set ropes that allow you to go up and down as you willed!

Many days passed in this, and I don't mention the nights since we died alot xD
this would be 90% of me dying and 10% everything else.
Crazy.
We decide to head back down. Melt use the Dirt Blocks to spell the five lettered short hand for the male genitalia, which UmU graciously capitalized on and added L A N D beneath.
I sighed in disappointment and later demolished the deed.
Melt had to go eat afterwards so he left,
Me and UmU Continued

For the next 2 Hours I decided to renovate the Mines below by adding proper walling and creating a Shaft with an Elevator using the Platforms
Apparently if you press down when on a platform, you can drop off of it (I learnt this the hard way from the stairway to heaven)
I used that to my advantage and stacked Platforms in a Column with 5 Block space in between
If I held down then I would fall down as I willed without taking fall damage as I would stop momentarily after every 5 blocks
If I wanted to go up I had to simply jump up
This was extremely effective, especially in the absence of Ropes
UmU explored deeper and deeper and found



Whatever this is xD

After some time I got bored of the shaft and went exploring with just my torch, Lance and Pickaxe
I encountered Dead Goblin Spearmen Zombie dudes, Earth Worms, As many Colored Slimes as there are colors of the Rainbow.
The Blood Moon came in the middle too and we were attacked by Blood Zombies.
Where did they come from?
I would wonder in the short time between deaths.
We eventually kept dying waited it out

This game is as extensive and huge as your creative mind can comprehend, and it is extremely entertaining with friends. There is an endless world to explore and no limit to what you can and cannot do
Plus its super cheap on Steam!

Not-Melt got convinced and bought it to join me! xD
I will share future episodes!

Return from Absence

So you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for the past week or so.
I was out for personal reasons, rest assured I have returned! I will now continue to Post as usual, and Apologies for doing it out of the blue! I will make sure to post if I will ever go on leave again!

Vinland Saga

Oh boy. Where do I begin.

Welp, Lets start with the Rating (Refer to my Artistic Scale)

6/5

ITS A MASTERPIECE

Now then. an introduction:

Vinland Saga is an Anime produced by Studio Wit

It follows the story of a Young boy: 

Thorfinn, Son of Thors

Who grew up in Iceland and had a peaceful Childhood.

He hated his boring life and wanted adventure. He wanted to be strong and tough so he can experience the world and kill his enemies.

His flair hit a critical mass when armed ships arrived at his home village and declared that the Kingdom of Denmark was at war with the English, and that they need volunteers.

Caught in this, Thorfinn wanted to go but his Father was against it. He volunteered to go himself, as he was forced to, so Thorfinn snuck on his ship and accompanied him. 

So the anime actually starts with Thors beating the absolute crud out of some people along ships and then sinking into the sea and running away. 

When the armed ships came, a decade had passed and it turns out Thors is leader of the Jomsvikings 

An order of Viking Warriors in service to the Nordic Pantheon that served the King of Denmark.

It is the Iron Centry (966 - 1066 AD) and it was this time when the Scandinavian Danes absolute HAM on England. They conquered it and instituted a rule of Law known as the Danelaw, it would be a long time before England would rise up and be independent once more (before being conquered by the Normans under William the Conqueror)

So the Jomsvikings were at the center of it. They had the strongest Warriors in the North, and Thors was their best. But Thors decided to retire after having a Family

Now Jomsvikings only retire when they die, so Thors deserted instead.

Thors was married to the Daughter of the Leader of the Jomsvikings and led a peaceful life in Iceland away from the War.

Now Folki, the new top dog at the Order, is in charge and he found out where Thors is hence he paid him a visit via Armed Ship. Thors refused to return to the Order so Folki forced his hand when he announced to his village of the War. 

Now SPOILERS but this stuff is a dead give away from the start so call em Soft Spoilers

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THORS DIES

Highlight it to read it

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ahem..

Now Folki had paid a mercenary, Askellad, to ambush and kill Thors. Thors was undefeated and unstoppable, but one of the guys took Thorfinn Hostage. Thors challenged Askellad to a duel, if he won then Thorfinn goes and if he doesn't then the Victor did as he wish.

Thors won, and as the deal went Thorfinn was let go. In exchange, Thors gave his life in payment of a guarantee that the Mercs won't go after Thorfinn or the others he was with.

Askellad, Son of Olaf, honored it. Thorfinn however saw his father killed and saw Askellad as responsible (even though Folki hired him to do it)

Now here comes 

The Actual Protagonist of the Sto-

*blast*

ahem..

Nuff said but the Story follows Thorfinn and Askellad, but while Thorfinn seems to be stuck in time trying his revenge on Askellad (which he wants to do in a fair straight duel instead of assassination) so Thorfinn kept following him. Askellad is the most cunning man in the world, I kid u not, so he promised Thorfinn he would honor a duel if he works for him and earns it. So Thorfinn, surviving by himself, joins Askellad and works to earn his duel (by taking the head of the enemy commander or by doing something huge or even saving his life)

ANOTHER SPOILER

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Jk I aint ruining this XD.

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Hence he continues in servitude until he can get his duel and win.

The story follows Askellad as he goes about plundering as a Company of Mercs.

This goes to a head until the Siege of London where the English have Thorkell the Invincible on their side in a losing war.

The King of Denmark was there with his younger son: King Canute

who is Christian and quite literally a Wimp coddled by his Retainer Ragnar.

CANUTE IS THE NEXT PROTAGONIST 

and oh boy he gets his development

absolutely Crazy

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So anyway that's enough about the Anime

Lets discuss why its a Master piece

1: It isn't focused on a singular character. The 3 Characters: Thorfinn, Askellad and Canute drive the story but all the side characters are also developed.

Thorkell the Invincible, King Swyen of Denmark, Ragnar, Thors, Haelga, The Two Brothers in Askellads crew, Askellads Best Friend the Giant Gorilla dude xD

Yea, the names escape me cuz I'm bad with remembering names

Anyhow.

The Characters are well developed and the entire cast gets you engaged into the series and how the world and setting will treat them

Which brings me to the next point:

2: The Worldbuilding is BREATHTAKING. It develops the world like a History book, like this stuff is real. This stuff happened, yes its dramatized with fictional elements for the sake of story telling. But historically this stuff was happening

The World is build wonderfully and feels lived in. We have English, French, Danes, Icelanders and what not going about their lives and how the Iron Century Vikings changed everything and how life was. It is truly a treat to see amazingly matured characters in a World so clearly built and made, it truly made this anime larger than life.

3: Ideology

The idea of Vinland is painted as an escape for the endlessly hopeless masses from the Invincible Thors down to Slaves and Peasants, and all in between. Everyone is simply taking a strike at their fortune, and not many end up lucky. At the end of it, people just want to go to Vinland. A place far beyond the Horizon where there is no war or famine or slavery or cruelty.

There is also the Mortality of Life, Whereby most adventurers are in it with their lives at stake. Either they strike rich and live well or die and be forgotten. It's a cruel world where nobody lives forever and where the Strong rule over the Weak. Hence those who grow old often look towards life itself. Askellad mused over this as a prophecy of the end times, King Swyen thought of his inheritance and the fate of his Kingdom after he goes.

In contrast there is Value of Life as well, where we have Thorkell who doesn't think about it and lives in the moment by staking his life and enjoying the thrill of the near death and fighting tough opponents. Thorfinn is in it for revenge, Vengeance who swore on the one who murdered his father. Canute only ever wanted to be a merry child leaving a quiet and loving life with a loving family and Ragnar.

However, one has to Facing the Ramifications of Life

King Swyen through his plotting schemes sought to sort out succession to his preferred son: Harrald instead of Canute

Thorfinn eventually is forced to face the question of what he is going to do after he has had his revenge from Askellad

Askellad sees his twilight years come close and ponders over the Prophecy of his ancestors and of the Promised King of Britannia

Canute matures into a King through one of the Greatest pieces of Development I have witnessed (Other than Eren Jaegar from Attack on Titan, he currently wears the Crown for the Greatest Character Development of all time)

Which brings me to my final piece, My absolute Favorite 

4: The Theme of Kingship

Kingship, Monarchy by Divine Right. For the longest time, man has known to rule itself through a Divine Mandate given to a Select individual: The King.

The King is Chosen by God to lead his people, and after him his blood flows through his Children who take the mantle by inheritance. This timeless concept has existed as long as man has, thus an exploration of this is warranted.

Too many pieces of Entertainment Romanticize or Criminalize or Politicize this in media. Especially since after The Great War (WW1) Monarchies faded from the World as the new World Super Power: The United States set the precedent for Democracies to be the norm through Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points involving Self Determination of a peoples nation state.

Hence, few media look at the subject of Kingship properly in a Philosophical and Holistic aspect. 

When they do, they take parts that suit their needs

King Arthur and the Camelot Mythos is the greatest example of this.

Canonized by writers over the Centuries, there are many interpretations.

Most glorify Chivalry, Set the Precedence for English Kings, Knights and can be seen as a Microcosm of Medieval Europe in its Fantasy.

Yet few realize that King Arthur does not have concrete Historical Evidence that proved he existed. We have evidence that suggested those that match the Legends of Camelot, but they are all pointing at different people and sources.

Thus, it is assumed to be Fiction by most. This Fictional Piece is often the lens used to view Kings through. Those who did not fit this bill were scrutinized through Politics and Institutions such as Republics and what not

Therefore, a Good Investigation would be one that not only looks into Kingship as a System yet also investigates the Figure that is to be King. One that aims to define and characterize the Archetype: King

Shakespeare has wrote Tragedies on Kings, Songs sing of Great Deeds by Kings, Literature arguing for the removal of Kings and the institutions they represent are endless.

Yet a look at What makes a King Great, or What is a King meant to be are often Questions that aren't properly tackled

What does it mean to be a King?

This is by far my favorite question in History. 

For most Religions it is agreed that Man is Imperfect, hence any Man Made institution is rigged to fail due to its imperfections.

Monarchies, Republics, Plutocracies, Technocracies, Dictatorships, Autocracies, Socialist Nations, Democracies, Theocracies and Chiefdom's

All have been attempts by Man to find a way to Live with one another.

Social Structure and Hierarchy are inevitable in a World of Inequality, and that is true for man and life itself. 

Therefore, it is argued that only a System approved by God, or The Divine can work for Man for God is Perfect

throughout history this has given Theocracies and Monarchies the Thumbs up.

From Babylon's King Gilgamesh, to Ancient Israel's King Solomon, to the Great Kingdom of Egypt, Alexander's Hellenic Empire, to the Roman Empire (blessed by the Roman Pantheon), to The Great Empires of China in the Tang, Qing and Ming.  The Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne, The Islamic Caliphates, The British and French Empire and Finally the United States.

All Great Powers of their times have one thing in common, save for the exceptions, they all instituted a Divine Mandate of a Sort into their Ruling Structure.

The King of Babylon was given the Blessing of the Babylonian Pantheon to be crowned, and the President of the United States is sworn into Office whilst keeping a Hand on the Bible.

While that dissuades from the point of Monarchies, my argument here is that it is often the case that a System favored by the Divine is most likely to succeed through History.

Nowhere has this been more true than it has been with Monarchies which have dominated most of the World's History from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the World Wars.

So, when a piece of Media attempts to answer this Question. It is truly an appreciation. And one that is done well, is not only rarest of the rare but a Spectacle to Behold!

So Moving to Vinland Saga

How did this approach the Question: What does it mean to be a King?

Drawing other examples:

Fate Series has tackled it as follows

The King of Knights: "A King is He Who Protects His Subjects no matter what, Hence a King is a Martyr and a Servant to those His Subjects"

The King of Heroes: "A King is He Who Owns His Subjects like they are His Property, and will do whatever it takes to elevate Himself for the Subjects work for the Glory of their King"

The King of Conquerors: "A King is He Who Dreams the Greatest. His Ambitions are Greater, Larger and Grander than the Hopes and Desires of all His Subjects Combined. Therefore, a King is not Alone. For His Will is that of all of His Followers Combined and then some. He is the Culmination of everything His Subjects want to Achieve"

Magi has tackled it as follows

The Wise King: "A King is He Who is the Wisest, and the one Who completely Understands His Subjects, and thus Acts in their Collective Interest"

The King of the Seven Seas: "A King isn't just anyone, He is one Born to Rule. One Born above others, and thus the King is responsible for Leading those beneath Him"

The King of the supposed Rome: "A King is He who represents God's Will, therefore He must Act to carry out the Will of God"

The King of Man: In Magi the Djinn choose their own Candidates, so each Djinn has their own Philosophy like:

"A King is He Who is Undefeated, The Strongest"

"A King is He Who Loves, The Kindest"

So How did Vinland Saga Approach this?

Canute's development from one who rejects his lot his life, to one who embraces it with complete Fluidity and Duty shows us an insight:

"A King is He, Who Shall Build a Heaven on Earth. One who shall sow only Love among-st Man. A King is He, Who Gives Meaning to the Life and Death of His Subjects"

In my years of reading and investigating this myriad concept of Kingship 

I found an answer that can perfectly explain a Good King

So, What makes a Good King?

A Good King is He, Who Gives Meaning to the Life and Death of His Subjects

Vinland Saga not only developed to this, it build and executed this.

Among the Greatest Kings of Mankind, King Solomon is regarded as the Greatest King of Man

He had the Super Natural at his Command, Beasts, Spirits and Man all bowed to Him. He was graced by God to wield unparalleled Wisdom and sense of Justice.

By making him a model to sketch by would mean a Ruler is Wise is a Good ruler

The Problem is, Wisdom is judged by Hindsight.

What might appear to be a foolish decision might pay off and end up as Wise:

Winston Churchill urging the Allies to Fight on against the Nazis

And What might appear to be a Wise Decision might end up back firing and hence goes down as Foolish in History:

The Hindenburg (Hydrogen filled Zeppelins) and Titanic (The Unsinkable Ship)

So judging a King to be Good or not based on Wisdom is not easy especially in the Now.

Being Just does not equate being Wise, for being Just simply means carrying out Law. What is Lawful isn't always Wise (Punishing Criminals for Crimes rather than addressing the Core Concern of what led them to it) (Tbh, History shows that not doing latter is costly like how the American Revolution Exploded) and because it depends on how Perfect the Justice System is and what culture it is from.

So what else?

King Solomon had vast Knowledge that earned him the Respect of everyone.

So being a Smart Person means you are a good King?

Having a lot of Knowledge but not knowing how to use it Properly is a Text Book Example of an Incompetent King

So what is left?

If we delve into the Philosophy 

we see that King Solomon did something that lines in with our definition

He gave meaning to the Life and Death of His Subjects

He never squandered Lives, not without a meaning meriting the value of their Life. (such as going to war to quash Injustice and Cruelty abroad) 

This applies to a great list of Successful Rulers

Augustus Caesar gave meaning to the Deaths of His Legionnaires by pushing Rome to its greatest Extent. He used the Tax paid by the Citizens, not on Himself but to build Aqueducts and Infrastructure to enrich the Realm. He Build Roads and Developed Rome and by Extension Europe.

Akbar the Great gave meaning to His Subjects Life by instituting Meritocracy, and gave meaning to their Deaths by formalizing Pension Systems and Waging War not to Subjugate or Enslave but to Pacify and Stabalise external threats that wished his Domain Harm.

Napoleon Bonaparte did something Similar. He gave his Subjects meaning by spreading French Culture and the Principles of Enlightenment far across Europe. He Built the Grand Army and French Nation State so the people would toil towards something they believed and were proud of during their Life. Even in their death he sought to settle for Peace that would ensure later Generations would not have to suffer the same Hardships and Tragedies

The Rashidun Caliphate is an example as well, for how they sought to give meaning to their Subjects Life by Establishing an Empire where the core tenet was what the said Subjects believed in: Religion as in Islam. They fought the Romans to the extent of Securing themselves, they Fought Persia in Response to their aggression. They gave meaning to the Deaths of their Subjects as well by Ensuring that in their stead a Golden Era would be left for those that Follow.

Don't get me wrong

I am not here to debate who is right and wrong, you are entitled to your own opinion (as am I)

but what I have observed that 

A King Who Strives to Give Meaning To His Subjects, is Most Likely to be a Successful Ruler. Therefore, what makes a Good King is His Stride to Give Meaning to His Subjects

And Vinland Saga has developed, and Portrayed that perfectly

Through Canute

and Through Askellad.

Askellad grew up believing the Prophecy of King Arthur

That He Would Come back from Avalon and Save England when it is in Despair

You can argue, that the Idea of King Arthur is what Drove him to do what he did towards the End of the Season.

You can look it up yourself but it is a MAJOR SPOILER FOR THE SERIES 

I strongly recommend you don't google it, and watch the series yourself and then Judge.

I have said my Piece.

Vinland Saga is a Thematic and Artistic Masterpiece for the Work and Effort it has put into Develop Characters, World-Building, Narrative and Thematic Focus.

A STRONG 6/5

And now Finally, I would like to end it with my Usual Explanation of each of the Stars

Enjoyable: Vinland Saga was thoroughly enjoyable. I admit it was largely due to the fact that I am a History buff and an Anime on Vikings with amazing Fight Scenes and Narrative set in the Iron Century was something that had me hooked.

BUT DAMN

The Developments in the Story and THE ABSOLUTE FIRE OPENING SONGS and the most Calming and Soothing Ending Songs ever. I couldn't skip a Single Second of this start to finish

Opening 1: Mukanjyo - Survive Said the Prophet

Opening 2: Dark Crow - Man With A Mission

Ending 1: Torches - Aimer

Ending 2: Drown - Milet

Artistic: This is probably my biggest rant ever where I have explained the Artistic Genius of Vinland Saga in the realm of Narrative Strength, Character Development, World Building, Ideological Discourse and Pacing as well as Tension Handling and Climax

This is an Absolute Masterpiece of Art

Recommended: I RECOMMEND THIS TO EVERYONE, ANYONE, EVERYONE.

THIS THING HAS NO FAN SERVICE, it only has blood and gore and some Dark Themes. Which means its fine if you watch it with fam, they won't see no Hentai Here. Just Muscular Men going through Life's Horror

Re-Watching: Oh Hell yes. This is the Best Example I have of a piece of Entertainment doing Justice to the Ideal of a Good King. I will be watching this again and again for years to come

Perfect: ABSOLUTELY, at first I had my own ideas on how it might have been better. But after what happened in the last Episode of Season 1, I have no doubts. I can't imagine the series executing this any better than how they did it. I find it flawless. Everything you might hate about it:

The Toxicity of Thorfinn

The Absurdity of Thors

The Rampant Craziness of Thorkell

The Actions of Askellad

Trust me, ALL OF IT HAS A MEANING 

Its there for a reason. It's all planned out for a Big Payout.

Simply put its there to make you hate it, which makes the events later on MUCH MORE IMPACTFUL

An Example is of how Thorfinn is eventually going to end up following His Fathers Path of how He Became the Greatest Warrior. But First, he needs to be the most hated Toxic Piece of Crap in Existence, and then slow burn that over the course of an entire Season

Masterpiece: YES YES YES YES YES

Conclusion: 6/5 -> All 24 episodes stay on my Hard Drive as a sort of Hall of Fame Decoration. A testament to How Good Season 1 of Vinland Saga is

Now Note this was all for Season 1

We don't know if Season 2 will be as good, but have Hopes!

If you have read everything thus far, I thank you. I thank you so very much for being the most amazing Audience.

If I might say, I hope I made this Article worth your time by educating you on the Ideal of a King and who it is inexorably linked with the Human Condition and Mankinds History.

THANK YOU!

Nicknames

So I have a lot of friends, I would give them names so they are easier to mention now xD
Ill update this as we go

Melt: Pakistani, played CK2 (Count of Northampton) and Borderlands 2 Assassin. Also plays DoTA and Fate Grand Order (although his phone is busted so TBD)

Not-Melt Kela: Pakistani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin
actually you know lets call him Kela instead xD He is notorious for ditching us in between plans
He also Plays DoTA

Pathan: Pakistani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin and FarCry 5

Sis: Mein Sister, Masters Degree in Games Development

Haka(i): Omani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin

UmU: Turkish, played CK2 (Count of Cornwall)

Shaheen: Syrian, watched Jumanji 2 with me

MZ: Omani, he was due to join me in Round 5 of Borderlands but had work, expect him later on!

Daddy: American, a True Chad who's studying Computer Science and Political Science at GeorgiaTech. He plays DoTA with me.

Meth: Pakistani, He's a Math Genius. Hence the Meth being derived from Math except its like a Drug. He plays Fire Emblem, Smash bros and Pokemon

Buu: Pakistani, We call him Pikachu cuz hes the biggest Pokemon fan in existence (probably) hes also quite chubby, but be warned that you will invite his fury if you say that in his presence xD We call him Buu cuz he devours food

Deku: Pakistani, A My Hero Academia Fan who is involved in every sort of debate you can imagine and more. A hella nice guy, except he can be quite uncompromising when he takes a position xD He plays DoTA with me as well!

Dr.: Pakistani, A cool and chill guy. A Dr.Who Fan, Trekkie, big fan of Robert Jordan's: Wheel of Time Series

TiffanySlayer: Malaysian, This guy is absolutely Rad. He loves anime, he loves Aimer, he loves Goblin Slayer. He is throat deep into Otaku culture! XD

Q: Malaysian, Meet the Professional Mobile Legends player, Q-TRON!

Mr.Curtin: Qatari, The name says it all. This guy is an absolute Legend. He is also my colleague and plays alot of games from League to Rise of Nations and more! Plus he is hella ripped! like absolutely shredded gym goals

That's pretty much everyone who you can expect will pop up for now

To be continued...

Borderlands 2 feat. Claptrap and Friends

Alright
Borderlands 2

I really can't get into this game if I'm playing solo. (Probably because I have other stuff to play like Skyrim or some JRPGs)
BUT
This is The Go To Game for coop imo

You can pick 1 of 4 classes:
Commando Axton

His special ability is deploying a Turret that attacks enemies in a 360 degree radius

Gunzerker Salvador

Imagine Dual Wielding Guns, now imagine Rocket Launchers Muahahahah this guy is Crazy fun with Guns!

Siren Maya

She can trap her enemies with her Charm ;). Which is a Psychic force that basically lift stuns any enemy for a length of time, which makes them an easy target for the entire team to attack!
Plus shes damn fine

Assassin ZERO

Meet the most popular one of the Squad: Hes a Ninja, like an actual Ninja. He has a Katana and can go Invisible plus he is great with Snipers!

They all have their own special abilities but the game pretty much let's you play however you want!

You can coop with upto 4 people which makes it really fun with friends!

My favorite is the Siren (naturally)

I like Siren Cuz she's a damn fine girl xD plus the fact that her abilities allow me to basically Stun lift literally everyone in the game and she can play support to heal others (I have an affinity for playing support)

And I play with her all the time xD
I tried Assassin but I like Siren more

I have played a lot with my friends, but
Mostly everyone I have been with has picked the Assassin xD hence the Popularity
He's cool, he has good skills in melee and Snipers
And his ability allows him to go invisible which is great for getting behind enemy lines and one shorting em



So anyhow
As of late
I am playing this with my Sister and my friends

My sister runs another siren while my Omani friend runs the Assassin

My Pakistani friend (the one from Crusader Kings 2) also played as an Assassin in this!

The furthest I got was with my sister on the Firehawk mission.

I thought Maya was nice
But then came Lillith
HOLY SMOKES SHE'S HOT XD


Like damn
Ermagawd
I'm a Sucker for Red Heads, so I was insta Sold xD

Anyhow
I recently played with my Omani friend, who is an Assassin, and we got to the fire-hawk mission (but didn't complete it, as in we didn't meet Lilith yet)

This game is really fun to play
You can have 3 of your friends join you and have tons of fun just mindlessly killing bandits with no moral repercussions and just loot the absolute Heck out of everything (The weapons generation system is absolutely cathartic)

Finding a rare item or bringing down a big boss with your friends is really fun and really gets you into the spirit

Highly recommend this game with friends

Other than thst Handsome Jack is probs one of the best villains I have seen in video games along with Vaas from Far Cry 3

Highly recommend this game
Either for friends
For fun
Or the story
This game will have plenty for you to sink your teeth into before you get tired of it

Also claptrap is an amazing mascot xD


So now for some stories

Round 1:
2 of my Pakistani friends (One of them is the same guy from Crusader Kings)
Me: Assassin
CK, Pakistani Friend: Gunzerker
Other Pakistani Friend: Assassin

Ill be frank, we didn't get far xD
we reached the 2nd mission: Best Minion Ever  and then stopped. We didn't pick up afterwards

3 players is chaotic af xD
The Gunzerker kept on charging in (naturally) but he kept dying, so I was forced to keep reviving him. I really like Melee Combat, so Naturally I was ninjaing all around the battlefield like crazy. Problem with that is, if the Gunzerker dies, and I am running around invi then all the enemies focus on the other Assassin (My friend) who is casually sniping from behind. He gets overwhelmed and so rather than meleeing people, I end up being the medic running to and fro the fight reviving the Gunzerker and the Assassin xD
We weren't exactly the optimal team.

Round 2:
The Pakistani Friend from CK2
Ya know I think we should give him a name now xD
Hmmm, I guess I'll call him Melt
He really likes Meltlilith from Fate Grand Order xD
anyhow

Me and Melt
Me: Siren
Melt: Assassin

This time it went better, Melt sniped enemies from behind while I engaged up front. I prefer going in Melee (as usual) so I handle small fry and Immobilize big fish with my Ability which Melt then proceeds to tear apart from a distance with his sniper. We went a long way, we finished Best Minion Ever and even the Bullymong quest. Oh and I have to mention, this game has amazing Humor xD And the Boss Battles are Lit af.
in fact, all enemies are quite interesting and just when you feel they are easy BAM a Badass <Insert Enemy Here> appears. These guys have alot of health and deal alot of damage. They really make things interesting all of the sudden xD
I reached Sanctuary with Melt before we stopped. And ofcourse didn't continue.
Hopefully this doesn't become a trend
Spoiler: It does

Round 3:
Another one of my Pakistani friends (yes I have a lot, they are everywhere) who also studies in my Uni was with me on this one
I floated the idea of playing a cooperative game. First we downloaded FarCry 5 but we couldn't Co-op unless we bought it on Uplay. Which was Inconceivable for a Pirate like me XD
So I got him Borderlands through my other Pakistani Friend who was around in my first game (not Melt)
Hey, thats a good name for him. Lets call him Not-Melt now
Plus this new friend of mine had a fascination for the Northern Pakistanis. I believe they call them Patan? Potahn? Paitan? Pathan!
So I'll call him that now, This Colleague of mine whom we shall call: Pathan

Me: Siren
Pathan: Assassin

I swear Everyone wants the Assassin, he is just so damn popular. I actually had to google Axton the Commando since I have never really played him or seen anyone play him XD

So me and Pathan didn't go far, we finished the Bullymong Quest but then I got stuck in the map XD
after an hour of aggressively jumping around I came out!
Oh and btw, I hold the record of : Not losing a single duel in all of my games (I am not an idiot so I didn't Duel my sister. She is a monster)
So naturally I beat Pathan as well XD
After a while he got bored and wanted to play FarCry 4 so we discontinued the endeavor.

Round 4:
My Sister and me
So my sister picked up Borderlands while she was doing her Masters in the UK.
Oh yea btw, my Sister did a Masters in Games Development, how Cool is that xD
So anyway, I suggested we play Borderlands since she wanted to play more games with me.
Our first attempt was Dungeon Defenders 2 but that died out real fast.

Anyhow:
Me: Siren
Sis: Siren

This time she got the drop on me xD
My sister had a really high level Siren, she was about to finish the game with her. For her to start a new game again so we cud play together really grinded my gears.
She gave me her high level stuff (Which I couldn't use so I sold it for some $$$)
And she basically mowed through every enemy in the game
Ill be honest this was probably my most boring run in comparison, but It was entertaining since my Sister was really enjoying herself. She mostly uses Trainers and Cheats, so this was equivalent to that for her. I was enjoying the challenge of advancing the story at an unprecedented pace which often left me against high level foes xD
It was a true test of my skill which I boast is pretty damn good
I mean I have been playing FPS games since I was little. I played hella lot of Call of Duty back in the day (still do but not as much)
So This run at the same time was where I reached the farthest. I reached the Firehawk mission and met the Gorgeous Lilith. My hopes immediately dashed when I found out that leader of the Crimson Raiders was her Boyfriend
SMH
Although what was I even thinking in the first place, My character is a girl anyway. While that really adds fuel for some vivid fantasy lets not go there xD
So anyway, I went ahead and busted out the Leader from that Dam after we got a Bandit Car to get us into their Compound.
I tell you, that was absolute Hell XD
Handsome Jack's Robots are absolutely monstrous (to me that is, my sis was tearing em apart by the metric ton)
We saved the leader and then had some more quests, but I insisted to take a break xD
We haven't continued after that yet

Round 5:
Yea, I have played this alot XD and I have started a new game every damn time
But the fun part is that I can have the same character everytime. Hence I play with Siren all the way through.

This time we got my Omani Friend!
He is currently in New Zealand so Ill call him Haka(i)
Don't ask me whats with the (i) cuz I aint telling xD

Anyhow
Me: Siren (obviously)
Haka(i): Assassin

This is getting old fast, but as you can see: The Assassin is hella popular with everyone.
Haka(i) was already a bit leveled but he started a new game
This time around we both zoomed through the early game since we were quite levelled, The fun started when we reached Sanctuary
I loved Melee and Haka(i) liked Sniping, but we both compromised most of the time and got medium range rifles to mow down the competition.

Haka(i) is quite versatile in his play-style, or so I thought, turns out he had no idea what he was doing XD there you have it, he was doing fine and having fun despite having no idea whats happening. He climbed levels fast and it was a hell of a blast playing with him.
My other Omani friend was due to join us but he had a commitment so he couldn't come. So its only us 2 for now, but rest assured its gonna be a Trio after a long time now
We reached the FireHawk mission and will do that next time but we blitzed through the rest of the missions. It was quite entertaining If i say so myself xD
We made quite the pair, I rushed in with my Melee and Ability while he alternated between Long Ranged Sniping to Melee Swordsmanship and even Spraying SMGs
He was utterly unpredictable, yet I wasn't worried. It was more of a Diabolical Derby to see how fast we could do and how many we could kill and how much we could blow up in the shortest time xD
Really fun


Anyhow thats it for now
we got
Melt: Pakistani, played CK2 and Borderlands 2 Assassin
Not-Melt: Pakistani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin
Pathan: Pakistani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin and FarCry 5
Sis: Mein Sister
Haka(i): Omani, played Borderlands 2 Assassin

Ya know, Ill make a dedicated Nicknames post to track this from now on XD

anyhow, hope you liked my take on Borderlands. It's really fun and I hope I have convinced u to go play it

Crusader Kings 2

So firstly, I have been playing this game for the past 4 years now. It took me an year to get the hang of it and next 3 have been an absolute blast!

You can start as a lowly count and rise to be an Emperor between the dates of 867 AD to 1444 AD in Europe, Asia and Africa!
Its Free to Play on Steam, but all the DLC's are priced, and this game is pretty dead without the DLCs. Like the DLCs make this crazy good!

So anyway, why the renewed interest?
Well I got not 1 but 2 of my friends to start playing!
I condensed my 1 year of knowledge into 1 hour and ran them through the tutorial.
Now the best way to talk about this game is to share stories:

The year is 1066 AD, The Norwegians have invaded England and are overwhelming. Meanwhile, the Normans in France, Normandy, have decided to invade England and claim it for themselves! King Harold of England stands as the last Anglo-Saxon King to stem this tide. How will the tides of fate turn?

Spoiler: Norway conquered England. Yep
So the lineup is as follows:

King of England: Me
Count of Cornwall: My Turkish Friend
Count of Northampton: My Pakistani Friend

The game starts and my two friends went about their ways managing their realms.
The Count of Northampton fulfilled his wish to get married! "I have a waifu now" and immediately got to work trying to conceive a child (Which took like an year)
The Count of Cornwall was hell bent on declaring war and expanding, and plotting and pillaging, but first he needed to conceive some heirs! He got married to some courtier and had 3 KIDS and the Count of Northampton still didn't get one, a real chad here.
Meanwhile, me being England I was getting rekt by Norway and Normandy. My opening move was to Surrender to Norway

WHAT? You might ask. Well I can't beat any of em. I don't have the DLC: Sons of Abraham which allows me to get 300 Gold loan from the JEWS (and then banish them for some more) which I could use to fund a mercenary army and beat the invaders with. I had a measly 90 gold, and I could barely afford to maintain my army. So I had to surrender ASAP and plan for the future. The Normans did not accept since they didn't occupy anything, the Norwegians were more than happy to! They only really needed the title.
So I conceded and got thrown into prison (I'm gonna be here for a while) which gave the Crown of England to Norway. Now its Norway vs Normandy and Norway defeated Normandy, just through very stupid means since the AI is terrible.
Anyhow, before I surrendered I got my affairs in order. I made the Count of Northampton my Regent, Then I go to Jail.
The Count of Cornwall wanted Devon, but I couldn't give it since my Regent didn't approve. Even though he did, he did not know how to approve of the deal. I tried giving Devon to him so he could give it to the Count of Cornwall. That plan backfired because now it seems he can't give land to other rulers.

Now while the two squabbled around trying stuff, I sat around in my prison. I even asked em to kill me but they are terrible at plots.

Anyhow, years pass and my eldest son comes of age. He is now the regent, atleast now I can give away some of my land. In this game there is a limit to how much land you can directly own, and I was 1000% above my limit literally
So I had to give out land before my realm revolted against me. I gave some lands to my sons, then by a stroke of luck. The King of Norway took mercy and released me. I retained my title as Duke of Essex and my lands so all was well. I immediately gave lands to my family to maintain it, and just as that happened. The King of Norway created the title Duchy of Cornwall, and gave it to: Count of Northampton
Now the Count of Cornwall became his vassal. This allowed him to finally give him Devon, after which the now Count of Cornwall and Devon wanted to be a Duke so he had to usurp his liege. So as repayment for getting Devon, he planned to revolt and be independent!
The Count of Northampton promptly imprisoned and executed him. His son took over, which he also imprisoned and executed, oblivious of being a tyrant.
However due to his fertile nature, the Count had 2 daughters. When The Count of Northampton tried to imprison the first daughter: Countess of Cornwall, his luck failed him and she rose in Revolt!
With Devon and Cornwall, the Countess slightly outnumbered the Count of Northampton.
A War raged, and it raged on my lands. This had to stop

I secretly plotted the demise of the Count of Northampton. Turns out being a tyrant doesn't win you friends. I got 300% plot support for killing him, naturally I did so. He perished, but before this I had my nephew married to his daughter, since the intention was to form an alliance and stomp over the Countess of Cornwall, but that failed since the alliance was formed after the war was declared. However, since that girl was now the Countess of Northampton and the last of her dynasty. With the support of the King and my Nephew, I plotted to kill her as well.
During this time, the forces of Cornwall marched to the capital Northampton but despite being more in number the river advantage of Northampton won it a Decisive Victory!
The War would no doubt be won by Northampton since they have the numerical advantage now!
Sadly they couldn't rejoice for their Countess was assassinated shortly after.
My Pakistani friend, with that, lost all of his living Dynasty and thus it was Game Over for him

My Turkish friend on the other hand continued his war, but the problem is that his liege was now the King, meaning he was in rebellion to his King!!
The King had 10 times the Size of his army, no doubt the Countess of Cornwall was poised to lose this war and with that would be sent to jail.
2 little girls, last of their dynasty holding 2 precious Counties, it would only be a matter of time before those 2 would be assassinated.

The game ends with both of my friends facing a Game Over, so we decided to call it quits and leave the game.

It was a really fun game xD
I expect to play more of this in the coming future