Part 8: Hunting dreams (1266-1271)
In the last few years, we became a man.
Yes, we. Our father, Augustin, died at age 51 and now we, Hieronymus, are in charge of the family palace.
His whole life, my father dedicated to showing me and Alexander what true greatness is.
He became Prince Mayor of the Hansa a few years before he died, unable to pass the title on to his sons.
We shall right this wrong, and achieve glory by following in his footsteps and beyond.
The road will be long and hard, without him by our side.
Despite our obvious talents, we start of at the bottom of ladder again.
The current Prince Mayor, Lutbert Warendorp, was elected because of the respect he gained through becoming very old.
Already at the age of 58, he surely isn't to live very long anymore. He is a decent leader; a theologian, diligent, charitable and a good catholic.
He raised his son Giselbert to be like him, but didn't quite make it. Giselbert is a nice person, but no leader.
Heinrich of Wittenborg however, who is next in line based on his respect, is another character.
This brave but cruel and aggressive but lazy patrician is someone you don't want to get in a fight with.
He will surely be no threat to us, though.
Our first action as patrician will be to eliminate our youth rivals, Magnus, Arnulf and especially Franz.
They were always mocking me and plotting my downfall, just because I was more talented than them.
Now I am boss, they will feel my wrath. And Franz will be first.
The new Prince Mayor is trying to exploit my father's death by seizing a trade post from our family.
He shall have to do it over my dead body! This is not the way to lead a republic. (Diplomacy route)
Ha! Franz will soon be hearing from our killer.
Besides our ambition to kill, we also want to be the most famous patrician this republic has ever known.
Even the feudal lords of Europe will whisper my name, maybe..
Time was up for Franz. His family will surely hate me now, but I don't care.
They know what's coming for them if they do.
Magnus is next. That lazy bastard knows what's coming, so we'll have to be careful.
Ah, yes.. The wine. My daddy told me something about fine wine and I remembered.
Arnulf then.
Again, the wine. My sister in law poisoned his sippings.
So far so good, my rivals are exterminated.
Now we can look into some more important matters. If we are to achieve greatness, we will need an army.
A personal army, that is. We will order the training of 2000 men, half heavy infantry and half archers.
They will protect our family well.
There is one more problem in my court I stumbled upon. This Russian man, part of the family who's getting crushed in the east by the Mongols.
My father hired him, but he is of no use to me.
Now we can shift our attention to some politics! Although we also have to take care about the education of our small ones.
My brother Ezzo was an irritating little brat when my father was still alives, he almost couldn't handle him really.
Let's see if I can do better.
The elections are not looking good. We are fourth in line and not rising a bit.
There will soon be changes to this, however. I will continue my father's campaign against the ever expanding Vorrades.
Ortwin Vorrade is now in charge of his family. Soon, he won't be any more.
Success! We got rid of Ortwin.
And even better, our brother in law now's in charge. I hope my sister will be loyal to our family and help out if
he tries to do something stupid.
Let's go hunting!
Ludwig is kind of a nice guy. Or is he just trying to woo me because I'm boss now?
Those hounds were really beautiful. And helpful.
But I don't need anyone to rule, I managed those wolves perfectly on my own.
For my first hunt, it was pretty good!
My spymaster had news of Prince Mayor's heir, he's trying to kill his competitor for the election.
I can't blame him, but it should've been my plot.
Word came of a new Kaiser ascending the throne of our Empire.
Kaiser Friedrich had died after a long life of virtue.
My father had told me great stories about the Kaiser, who was reigning far before I was born.
It shall be difficult to get used to this new, young, emperor.
Ezzo's education is going just fine.. He still is the ruthless kind of boy.
I've decided to act on Hildemar. The offense the existance of his family is to mine, is something I can't ignore.
My sister will help me, she can marry someone else.
I like this hunting. It's good for my prestige, because the other patricians all witness my bravery.
And it's an awful lot of fun, too.
Too bad of the peasant kid ruining the day. I've gained nothing today but enjoyment.
My second daughter was born. Let's hope she doesn't take after my brother Ezzo,
I'm really getting tired of him.
Hildemar is no more. The Vorrade family will definitely not deliver any Prince Mayor soon.
The Warendorps and Wittenborgs are acting against eachother before the old man dies. Hopefully we will be joining the fight soon.
My genius little sister came of age. I shall take good care of her.
She's marrying the brother of the King of Sweden. We already have close relations with the Norse.
It will make our close family a little bit more prestigious, also.
Torkel here, has a claim on the kingdom. He's also talented for a boy.
Not quite like me, but hey!
His father Tjudmund is in problem, because he is excommunicated.
Let's not help him for now, see how he handles it.
The hunt today was perfect! My councillors did find me selfish for not granting my kill, but it was my kill..
It seems the King's excommunication has met it's consequences. Our good papal relations will help him.
I don't want those Scandinavians fighting useless wars, nor do I want to lose the prestige for that marriage.
Speaking of war. The King of Bohemia is revolting again. This time he found the Duke of Holland at his side.
This is a perfect opportunity to expand. We already have three trade posts on his lands. We could try our new retinue on him.
He has a greater military strength than we, however. He has 10000 men and we have our 2000 men retinue, plus 1100 or so levy. We could hire some mercenaries, but it wouldn't be enough.
We better wait for the Kaiser to arrive before we try seizing a city in Holland.
Those Vorrades keep testing us!
Ezzo, who killed his family in the past, will soon perish.
Those merchants were a nice distraction from life. They brought a man, Hafiz.
He's a nice person, but has no special qualites. He has a distaste for non-catholics, though, and fights any he can find.
I have given up on my brother Ezzo. Let him scheme and be a bad boy, I don't care anymore!
Let's hope I'll get another son soon.
The old man died, as expected. The elections came too early for us to win.
Heinrich Wittenborg now rules.
We want his spot! We will do anyhting we can to remove him from that throne.
Soon, we will have the army to dictate the politics here.
But it might be a long time before our family has the lead again.