[Steem Kings] Book 1 - Why is the moon white

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Prologue

2 January, 769

It is a good day today. The sun shines upon the land of Steemit, and i see great future ahead of our house. But first i need to build Steem House, and for that i need an wife to give me heirs.
While talking to my council, they told me that our King Desiderius have 5 unmarried daugthers, and it could be an opportunity to get close to the King, and to get an heir that is related to the Alachsling House.

Immediatly i sent my Chancellor Irnerius, Bishop of Casale, to meet with the King, and give him a hefty sum of 38,6 gold as a gift, and try to convince him that i am a good candidate to marry one of his daughters.

I really like Bishop Irnerius. It is amazing how a bishop can be as cynical as me on things related to our holy church.

By the end of this first council meeting, i sent my marshal Mayor Sigisbrand of Alba to learn how we can improve our military technology, my steward Bishop Aistulf of Solero to collect some taxes on Alessandria, since we emptied our coffers with the King's gift, and i invited Brother Rothar de Solero to be my Court Chaplain. Not a very good candidate, since he is a glutton, but it is what i have in my reach.

If i want my house to grow, i need to become a Duke, and it was brought to my attention that our lands allow us to create a Duchy title, but that will demand a lot of gold.

And since my father was more of a warrior than a governor, i really need to learn how to be a better ruler, if i want my legacy to last.

After the council meeting, i went to my quarters, and i realized that if i want my house to become a great house, i need to grow my lands. And what better way than the old art of war? Checking the information i was able to gather about my neighbours, Count Ademaro of Savona seems to be a weak ruler, and doesn't have a big army. Also his lands give acess to the Sea... I think i will keep an eye on what this proud and envious count will be doing.

8 January 769

Bishop Irnerius send me a courier with a message from the King:

"I appreciate your gift my dear vassal, but i may not give your the hand of one of my daughters because they will help the Kingdom of Lombardy in achieving greater glories and prestige. And also, be in mind that today i am implementing a new Vassal Obligation Law, where all my vassals will provide me troops if needed by the Kingdom, and to provide the Kingdom a small tax."

Then the King thinks i don't have enough prestige to marry one of his daughters... We will see my king... we will see...

Also, the messenger told me that Bishop Irnarius found a possible candidate for me to take as my wife. She is the daugther of Cout Ursus of Padua, a County that is very close to Venice. Not the most powerful county of Lombardy, but he said that besides her hot temper, she will be a good wife, and we would seal an alliance with Count Ursus.

I will send an envoy with the marriage proposal.

7 April 769

Last year, i stumbled upon an old parchment where it described an old society named the Hermetic Society. The parchment contained excerpts of Hermes Trimegistus writings, and how this society were trying to learn about how the world works, and what are the secrets hidden on the nature. At the time, i sent some messengers around the world to try to find this society, because there is one thing that my father taught me well is that knowledge is power.

After months of messengers arriving at my castle with no results from this quest, today one of them brought me a parchment, written by the Magus himself, the higher authority of the Hermetic society, approving me as a new member.

This parchment also contained a list of names of who belongs to this society, and i was surprised to learn that King Karl of Neustria was a member, and the next in line to be a Magus. I think this might be a sign that there is a lot of knowledge to be learned from these wise men.

Also contained on the Parchment, there were instructions about the first step of acquiring knowledge about the nature: I should write a Theorem about anything i desire to research and send it to my fellow society members for them to approve my work.

So, i started research and to write the paper "Why the moon is white".

12 April 769

A comitive arrived at my court today, and for my delight, was a comitive from Padua, with Lady Liutberga among them.

Count Ursus of Padua accepted my request for his daugther hand, and today we will marry! Along with this wonderful news, he wrote a letter sealing an alliance between us.

It was a simple cerimony, but all nobles in the County were there, and all the gifts they sent will help on preparing my house for things to come.

13 June 769

Its been two months since my marriage. My wife, Lady Liutberga is a wonderful creature. She spends a big part of the days working on the garden, but i really wonder if she likes it... I saw she curses so many times when something doesn't work as she wanted to. But her stubbornness doesn't allow her to stop what she is doing until she gets it right.

I enjoy our night talks, and on these talks i started to wonder if a cynical view about life, wich we shared at the first days of our marriage, laughing about people that easily believe on everything they hear is a good way to live my life.

No. I have to start to look for the bright side of things.

Later this afternoon, two farmers came to me while i was walking on the streets of Moncalvo, and started to talk about one of these farmers boars went went missing a few months ago, and how he found it mounting one of his nieghbours pigs. Today, the pig gave birth to seven piglets, and after sometime arguing between each other, they started a fight between them, where my guards had to intervene. It's amazing how these peasants argue over such small matter.

Since they almost killed each other on the middle of the streets, i decided that each of them would keep one piglet each, and confiscated the others. Maybe now they will learn how to solve things in a civil manner.

13 July 769

News arrived from the King court today. The King sent a message to all his vassal, stating that south ou the mediterranean sea, on the North of Africa, Muslims are growing and that is our duty, as a disciples of Christ, to expel the Muslims from these lands, and therefore he declared a holy war against the Sheikdom of Gabes, a small country ruled by the Sheik Mukthar Muktharid.

Besides calling our levies to conduct his war, he invited us as allies, to lower the [Sunni] caliphate power on North of Africa. The first of many holy wars, he said. Deus Vult?

I think this may be a good opportunity for my house to get on the good graces of the King, and increase our power. I will join him in this endeavour.

19 September 769

The reports from our scouts were true! 497 Sunni troops landed on La Spezia 10 days ago, and yesterday our scouts spoted 944 troops composing our enemy army. We will redirect our trooops to go back and attack them before they try to invade my lands!

14 October 769

The battle of La Spezia is raging for 5 days now. We clearly have the advantage, and this battle will definetly be won. Today i retreated to the camp, and with some peace of mind after the blood bath of a field full of corpses i finally had enough clarity to finish my paper "Why is the moon white".

These travel days with the army allowed me to finalize the writtings on my research, and i made enough copies to be sent to my fellow Hermetic Brothers. I hope they find my work aumusing.

27 October 769

A messenger from the battlefield arrived with the good news that the enemy is routing. We won the Battle. Unfortunatly, more troops were sighted crossing our homeland. We will start our march back home as soon as the troops are ready.

2 November 769

The battle is finally over. I will never forget the sight of my first battlefield. Bodies hacked in pieces, soldiers soaked in blood. Scream filling the air...

I can't stand this. I will never set a foot outside the castle again to lead troops into battlefields. too much horror! Let the commanders do their jobs.

13 December 769

I didn't thought that being a ruler was so hard. Every single person on the kingdom seems to ask me what they should do. All these farmers complaing about is what their neighbours are doing to their pigs! I can't stand anymore!

22 January 769

A new year has passed, and the holy war for the Sheikdom of Gabes rages on. There is no enemy troops anymore on my lands, and the King seems to be winning this war.

News came that my paper "Why is the moon white" got enough endorsements by my brothers in the Hermetic Order, and that my work were accepted on the library of the Hermetic Order.

I know this is some good news, but i still have this emptiness inside me... The world looks so bleak, and my wife has yet to give me an heir. Sometimes i start to contemplate the possibility of ending my own life....

We are at the end of the first year of the Steem House. Still haven't got an heir, and the craven and depression events happening right after a battle was really interesting.

Even though when a character gets depressed , an option appears to commit suicide, don't worry. i wont do it. I want to see what the awaits house Steem on the Future...

Remember, if you want to join this history, let me know on the comments.

See you all next week.