Queen Isla's Dark Reign: Ironman León #5 (Crusader Kings 2)

Hey Again Steem Folk!

Welcome back to my CK2 campaign. For the previous episode, click HERE.

In the last episode, we continued to follow Queen Isla's reign of terror in the Petty Kingdom of Breizh up until she formed the Kingdom of Brittany.

Let's pick up from there.

Queen Isla of Brittany (b. 828, r. 831-Present)

Ever since forming the Kingdom of Brittany, Queen Isla had some suspicions that her court had begun to distrust her and plot behind her back due to her being outed as a demon worshiper.

"Bah," she thought aloud, "a demon worshiper. These fools haven't a clue."

After digging around, she found that her suspicions were true. Her vassal, Countess Elisaued, had been plotting with others in her court to kill her son, the heir to the kingdom. Rather than outright have them imprisoned, Isla sought other means as they would make great servants.

Disappointingly, her court physician had no interest in joining the dark brotherhood and so she focused on the other trouble makers.

Isla performed a ritual in hopes to possess her disloyal vassal and it worked magnificently! Elisaued was now a loyal servant and would do anything she asked, such as end the plot to kill her son. This way, Isla though, she wouldn't have to arouse suspicion by imprisoning her vassal.

She continued performing rituals on her other disloyal subjects, changing their minds through possession.

After her men captured one of the foul viking generals on the battlefield, she sacrificed him to the dark lord as it had been long since she'd felt fresh blood on her hands.

While attempting to teach her son, Gaidoald, her ways, Isla instructed him to be ambitious, this in turn causing him to see her as a rival.

Being the head of the most powerful cult in Europe had its perks. Isla could snap her finger and have her dark brothers and sisters attempt to abduct almost anyone she desired.

In this case, Isla looked to the heir of the Kingdom of West Francia, which had only grown stronger.

"Karlings," she though, "they deserve to all burn in the pit of the dark lord."

As of late, Isla had noticed internal strife in her home county of Kent. Confused, she looked into the matter further and it seemed that some pesky little brat in the Petty Kindom of Mercia held the title of one of her holdings.

"This won't do," she said to her commanders, "go and show this boy who is the rightful owner of this land."

During the war, Isla's co-conspirators informed her that Leonard Karling sat in her prison chambers.

"Excellent," she thought. "I will eradicate these pesky Karlings one by one for the dark lord demands it."

She prepared the ritual chamber and painted the walls with his blood.

Feeling drained by her recent surge of dark rituals, Isla found it harder and harder to lift herself and had to begin using a cane to get around. The dark magic had caused her to become a hunchback, a small price to pay for the vast dark power Lucifer bestowed upon her.

The war ended quickly with Isla's troops decimating the enemy. She took back the rightful land and gave the Bishopric of Canterbury to one of her loyal servants in the council in order to appease him.

Gaidoald had come of age and learned to be an intricate webweaver. He was an ambitious boy and, she thought, would make a fine king when her time to join the dark lord comes.

In order to cement his authority in the British Isles, Isla had Gaidoald bethrothed to the Queen of Northumbria who was but three years old.

"She is the same age I was when I became the queen of this land. Perhaps it is a sign from the dark lord."

Her brethern had captured another of the Karling children, the new heir to West Francia, and locked him away in her dungeon. It wasn't long before Isla found her way to Robin Karling and spilled his blood for her master.

One night as Isla drifted off, she heard a ruckus as a mysterious figure approached her. This figure claimed to be a demon slayer and that she would end Isla's dark reign.

Thinking quickly, Isla jammed her ceremonial dagger into her leg in a strange symbol, causing the attacker to flee confused. The unfortunate side effect of this was that her oldest living daugher, Isla, was found to have been gored to death by a boar.

In addition, her husband died of consumption.

"These must be signs from the dark lord." Isla paced about her chamber. "But what can they mean?"

She sought the hand of another of her dark brothers, this one a mayor in a land not far.

Isla felt the growing distance between her and Gaidoald. This troubled her. She granted him the County of León in hopes that it would gain his trust as well as prepare him for his coming rule.

Isla had felt a terrible sickness coming over her and her court physician was too disloyal to trust, so she called upon the dark lord, who again granted her health.

It had been quite some time since Isla had meddled with the laws of Brittany, but the time had come to enact the free investiture law so that she could appoint heirs to her bishoprics as she saw fit. This would allow her to appoint loyal followers rather than the contrary bishops she'd been dealing with.

Much to her surprise, Isla's third husband passed. The cause was reported as severe stress, but she suspected the dark lord to be behind this. He giveth and taketh after all.

Another night passed that the demon slayer approached Isla in her bed chamber. Her guards must've been sleeping again. This time, the demon slayer wouldn't leave without a fight, so Isla gathered all her dark power and strength against the fool.

While she was unable to defeat the demon slayer, Isla managed to survive, although in a pitiful state.

She once more called on the dark lord to heal her, feeling that this may be her last breath. He answered and took away the damage the demon slayer had done!

"Praise Him," Isla uttered, "praise the dark lord, father of my child, my husband of terror."

With her deadly wounds healed, Isla set looked over her kingdom with both glee for another chance and dread of the times to come. It would only get more difficult raising the daughter of Satan while keeping her own life intact, and Isla was beginning to feel her age.

Thanks for Reading!

That's all for this episode. Stay tuned for the next one.

Isla's reign over Brittany continues!

This is P5ych0path, signing off.