Crusader Kings Chronicle, part 1: 1066 - 1076 A.D.

Joy and tragedy

September 24, 1069: Duke Murchad's first grandson is born to Brian and Sigrid, named Murchad after his grandfather. He is of a similar age with his uncles Donnchad and Amalgaid, and the three babes spend much time in one another's company.

As Brain's heir, little Murchad, is now third in line to rule my lands, so I will have to consider his betrothal extremely carefully. None of the currently available options meet my standards, so for now, he shall remain promised to none.

1070: A year of peace, prosperity, and few events of note for House ua Brian.

January 2, 1071: A daughter, Ben-Míde, is born to Duke Murchad's half-nephew, Concobar macLorcán. She is betrothed to the three-year-old Baron Stigand of Richmond, a Saxon whose rightful lands are currently under the oversight of a Lord Protector after the death of his father.

February 9, 1071: Great tragedy strikes House ua Brian. The duke's second son, Donnchad, dies of natural causes before his fourth birthday.

Alas, the death of the very young was not at all uncommon in the Middle Ages. I've lost a son before he came of age, and his betrothal (upon which stood my claim to County Leinster) is broken. I can only hope that young Amalgaid and my grandson Murchad have much longer lives ahead of them.

July 8, 1071: A second son is born to Brian and Sigrid, named Énna. In the space of months, Duke Murchad has lost a son, but gained a grandson.

Brian now has "an heir and a spare," as the saying goes. My line is quite secure for the moment. While little Murchad still lacks a match, I feel comfortable lowering my standards for Énna as he is not my heir's heir apparent. I choose Earl Áed of Breifne's newborn daughter, strengthening my claim on Breifne. Amalgaid and Énna, uncle and nephew, are now betrothed to two sisters of House Ruairc.

What is it with my bannermen and syphilis? Clothe your mast, that's all I'm saying, jeez...

November 14, 1071: Murchad's hapless cousin and chancellor Toirrdelbach outlives another wife, as Sisuile dies of an illness at the mere age of 20.

Wow, it is not fun times to be this guy. I married him to a young courtier as a reward for his service and to keep him happy in his old age, and she keeled over before he did.

Contributor

Len Hafer is a freelancer and lifelong PC gamer with a specialty in strategy, RPGs, horror, and survival games. A chance encounter with Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness changed her life forever. Today, her favorites include the grand strategy games from Paradox Interactive like Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis, and thought-provoking, story-rich RPGs like Persona 5 and Disco Elysium. She also loves history, hiking in the mountains of Colorado, and heavy metal music.

Latest in Strategy
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
A massive beachhead assault in indie RTS Beyond All Reason
Over 110 players and 10,000 units clash as this free RTS celebrates its growing multiplayer scene with some of the biggest multiplayer battles ever fought
Latest in Features
Steel Hunters hands-on
Steel Hunters is like a more tactical Titanfall, but as an extraction shooter it's undermined by boring loot
A close-up photo of an Nvidia RTX 4070, with its heatsink removed, showing the AD104 GPU die and the surrounding Micron GDDR6X VRAM chips
With Nvidia Ace taking up 1 GB of VRAM in Inzoi, Team Green will need to up its memory game if AI NPCs take off in PC gaming
While Waiting
While Waiting is a game all about chugging through life's most mundane tasks with a heaping side order of whimsy
Phyre
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 first hands-on: A gory, undead power fantasy that I'm desperate to play again
A snakewoman holding a sickle
Magic: The Gathering's Tarkir: Dragonstorm set isn't just about dragons
A screenshot from game Mudborne of a little humanoid frog in a marsh
Five new Steam games you probably missed (March 24, 2025)