Queen Isla's Iron Fist: León Ironman #6 (Crusader Kings 2)

p5ych0path (54)in #gaming • 8 years ago

Welcome Back Steem Folk!

Queen Isla has long outlived her father and has ruled the Kingdom of Brittany far longer then any of her ancestors.

For the previous episode, click HERE.

In the previous episode, Isla had barely managed to fight of a so-called demon slayer and set up her son as the new Count of León, betrothed to the young Queen of Northumbria.

Let's pick up where we left off.

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

As Queen Isla's army had fought off yet another round of viking raids from Danish lands, she began to wonder if they would ever end, or even slow down. The raids had become so frequent that it seemed they may drive her mad had she not already been driven to insanity be all the voices telling her what to do.

According to her advisors, a slow fever epidemic had broken out in the county of Surrey and began to make it's way toward Sussex and Kent.

"Bah," she said, "the dark lord protects me from Earthly disease."

Ever since she had first been excommunicated and subsequently paid the then Pope to lift it, Isla thought of setting up one of her bishops as an antipope, someone who could protect her from excommunication and allow her do do as she wished in matters of religion.

To this end, she began to groom Bishop Iudicael as a faithful servant. The ritual went off without a hitch. She also began to seek out his humanly faults, indulging him and encouraging his spread of lies. This proved quite fruitful, however, it was impossible to set up an antipope so quickly after one had just been run out of town, so she would bide her time.

Though she had forgotten of her plot to abduct young Aldebert Karling, then heir of West Francia, her brethren had not. Good news came when Aldebert, now King of West Francia, had been tucked away in her dungeon.

The beauty in kidnapping a king is that some random fool, say a dissatisfied vassal with enough power such as Alias Louping, could usurp the throne easily while the king rotted in a dungeon.

Isla howled with laughter when reports came that the Karlings no longer controlled West Francia.

With that out of the way, Isla sent little Aldibert to the dark lord. She marked yet another Karling child off her list.

Shortly thereafter, Isla sought to continue the snuffing out of the Karling lineage.

"What better way," she though, "than to have my Isla marry one of their young descendants matrilineally."

The foolish Karlings accepted this proposal of bethrothal as Queen Isla grew ever satisfied with her plotting.

It had for quite some time now bothered Isla that West Francia controlled the County of Nantes, one of her de jure lands. As luck would have it, yet another revolt for the control of West Francia had broken out, this time in a perfect position for her to strike.

She sent her greatest commanders and full force to take Nantes from the rebels.

While the war raged, Isla got word that her brethren had captured young Bo Karling, heir to the Kindom of East Francia. She let out a maniacal chuckle at the thought of what she would do to him.

With the war draining her coffers, Isla looked to Queen Avenie of Northumbria for an ally. She gladly accepted, but couldn't join our war as she was fighting one of her own.

Word came that Bo Karling had come of age in her dark dungeon.

"It's time."

She quickly prepared to send him to the void, coating the walls with his blood.

It had come to her attention that the Kingom of Brittany had gotten quite hot lately, and so she wrote out a law enforcing the creation of multiple doorway sized holes in each and every home throughout the land.

After her troops defeat both the West Francian army and the rebels in combat and laid siege to their holdings, Isla sent notice that Nantes now belonged to her.

With her coffers drained, Isla sought to drain the vaults of her bishops, greedy bastards hoarding gold from her. Unfortunately, word got to the Pope and she received notice that she'd been excommunicated once more.

It came to pass that her chancellor managed to fabricate a claim on the county of Norfolk. Isla was one step closer to owning all of the British Isles.

While tending her affairs, a group of holy knights had managed to find their way into her court, confronting her in an attempt to end her reign. With no reasonable options, Isla summoned all her dark might and fought for her life with the sword she'd inherited from her forefathers.

Though she managed to survive the fight, she lost a hand and had been severely injured in the process.

She called upon the dark lord to heal her.

"While I cannot restore your lost hand," he said, "I will heal your body."

She praised him for his powers.

One day while performing her usual rituals, it came to Isla's mind that she would like a companion, so she prepared a ritual said to summon a spirit familiar of her choosing. She chose a wolf, fearsome and elegant, for her familiar.

Though her dark magic was powerful, it had its drawbacks. Isla felt the corruption and draining of her energy a great deal.

While she may have been in a bad way, she knew that she mustn't rest, for the dark lord's deeds were never done. She flexed her claim on the nearby county of Suffolk after word came that rebels had taken Norfolk.

The war ended quickly and Isla took her rightful land, quickly looking to Norfolk next.

She flexed her claim on Norfolk, seeing that their ruler was weak.

During the war, word made its way to Queen Isla that her son, Gaidoald, heir to her kingdom, had passed away due to what appeared to be a heart attack at the age of 25. She could feel a part of herself dying with him, but now her dauther Isla would be her only child and heir.

"Perhaps the dark lord willed this to be." She paced her bed chamber. "My little Isla is his child after all."

This new situation called for the breaking of young Isla's betrothal from the Karling boy. Queen Isla would have to reconsider very carefully who her daughter wed.

While her new enemy fought harder than the last, her unstoppable army crushed his and Isla took the county of Norfolk for herself.

With Norfolk and Suffolk under her rule, Isla created the Duchy of East Anglia from them in order to secure her daughter's inheritance.

In the year of 883, Isla sat at her throne reveling in her long reign. When she took the crown in 831 at three years old, she never dreamed that she would hold the Petty Kingdom of Breizh together, much less turn it into a world renowned Kingdom spanning multiple coasts.

In her 52 years as queen, Isla had witnessed the deaths of all but one of her children. Little Isla, daughter of Lucifer and herself, heir to the Kingdom of Brittany, was poised to become an unstoppable force in this darkening world.

"If my father could see the kingdom now, he would be proud," she thought aloud.