Oh, Hey! More Crusader Kings 2: Aed has been a busy duke...in the bedroom

Indeed Aed does love his wife, as we can see by the huge brood of
offspring that he produced with her.

After facing the threat of being invaded, trying to get back into the swing of things on his second marriage, and finding out his bishop was a heretic, things were looking rough last time we saw Aed I. He's been a busy duke, though. First he has finally had to fulfill many of his political commitments from marriages that he and his family are part of. Ie. He's been asked to lend his support to several wars. Thankfully, I don't actually have to send troops to these things, and basically just send these other monarchs letters that read little more than, "I'm with ya, man!"

Aed really did well for himself
during his reign, and his heirs
have some big shoes to fill

Unfortunately, with my county committed to all of these wars it also means that it cannot have any feasts, hunts, or fairs. I guess throwing lavish parties is in bad taste when people you know are dying for a cause or something. So, what's a duke to do in order to keep himself entertained. Well, I have a pretty good idea what Aed did because he managed to make another four children in less than a decade while all of these wars were going on. Not bad, and bare in mind that this guy had his last kid when he was pushing 80. In the Middle Ages. I guess there must be something in the water in Connacht.

I also have a feeling there's something in the water wherever Aed's clergy usually hang out, and it's something a lot more sinister because two more of my bishops have suddenly decided to go heretic on me. One guy embraced Walderianism, and I can't remember off hand what the other got into, but I'm thinking it may have been Catharism. Again. I had these people thrown in prison, but this time I was actually able to demand that the Walderian convert back to Catholicism, to which he happily agreed after which I had him released, and he lived out the remainder of his life serving in my council. The Catharin simply shouted, "I don't wanna!" every time I tried to make him convert so I was forced to leave him in prison. Unfortunately, I also forgot about him after time, so he wound up rotting there for many years before finally dying.  Did he ever have a change of heart, I wonder. I guess we'll never know.

It's difficult to see here, but a
tuberculosis epidemic swept
much of Ireland

Meanwhile, things have been relatively quiet in Ireland. A crusade was called, so some of the counties sent troops to support it. I just lent moral support because I want my soldiers for local conquest, and would rather not squander them in some far flung part of the world. There was also a tuberculosis outbreak that spread through parts of England and eventually made it to Ireland. I could see the little greenish black cloud spreading its way across the island, consuming one county after the next and hastily recalled both my chancellor and spymaster from their foreign assignments so to hopefully prevent them from catching the disease. The way it so completely infected Ireland was a little unnerving. I almost wanted to blow on my computer monitor to prevent the clouds from making their way to Connacht. Thankfully my region never had a full blown epidemic. Only one person in my court was afflicted by the illness. So, potential crisis averted.

After quite some time, though, Aed I finally died. I was actually starting to wonder about this guy because he kept on going and going, living for over 80 years. In his twilight years it was easy to see that age was taking its toll. His stats were starting to go down, and the earl of Briefne was able to usurp Aed's claim on that county. Even after Aed did die, his son was getting up there in years, already in his late 50s, and didn't have a long reign at all before succumbing to age himself. About the only thing that he was able to accomplish was to get the "Lust" attribute. A few short months later he was dead, apparently of natural causes. Right.

So now Aed I's grandson, Tadg, is leading the county. He's suffering a fairly significant hit to opinion of him since he's still in the transition period after taking the reigns of power. This will last for a few years, so I have to do whatever I can to improve people's opinions of him. Thankfully we're not at war right now other than the crusade going on, but that doesn't inhibit feasts, fairs, or hunts like more conventional conflicts do, so he'll have to start up the partying anew like his grandfather once did. Hopefully this well get him in everyone's good books sooner rather than later, and he can get down to the business of expansion.

Because Aed I lived for such a long time, his son barely had a chance
to rule Connaught before dying himself

And this is where things could get interesting. Despite Briefne seizing my claim on that region, it's former ruler has died and there is a child on its throne, so I can usurp the claim right back now if I want. I plan to do this. It does get tricky, though, in how I go about invading the region. I recently started the construction of Connacht's second castle, which will be complete in under two years. When it's done, I will be able to muster significantly more troops, and also have a better selection thereof, including a larger number of heavy infantry. The long and short of it is that I should have a good-sized invasion force at my disposal, and I can finally start thinking about expansion.

Tadg's first wife died, so now I'm
trying to marry him to a princess

But where to first? Briefne is in a weakened state with a new leader who also happens to be a child. It's an unstable region ripe for the picking. One problem exists, however. Tyrconnell has once again been making claims on Connacht, starting a year or so before Tadg rose to power. If I go all in with an invasion of Briefne, will Tyrconnell take advantage of this to expand into my own region? I want to invade with overwhelming force when the time comes, but if I do I could leave myself exposed on other fronts. It makes me wonder if I should try and fabricate a claim on Tyrconnell, and invade there first. Doing so would eliminate it as a threat, then I can focus all of my attention on Briefne (I hope).

So there are some decisions to be made. I'm leaning toward dealing with Tyrconnell first, but we'll see. Before doing anything I need to shore up morale in Connacht, and make sure all of my nobles are on good terms with Tadg. Only then can I start looking to expansion.

To Part IV