14 DAY TRIAL // I ruled Denmark and, for a long time, it was all well, with banquets during the summer and hunts in the autumn, cities that grew and sons that married well.
Then I decided to enjoy life a little more in my quickly advancing age, and I become somewhat of a party animal, which lead to a few one night stands with the ladies from the court, especially one young and beautiful Nord I myself brought there.
My wife, older and uglier than I remembered her, decided that a plot against me would be the best way to punish a king for his indiscretions and tried to recruit a number of my cabinet to the plot, only to be ratted out by my ever loyal steward (he got a nice cushy province for his trouble).
I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to imprison my wife. But almost everything in Crusader Kings II is based on chances of success and the plotting traitor fled to a province of Walachia, where she managed to get the protection of the loyal duke.
My ruler, now hobbled my old age, was preparing to create a chain of mighty alliances and maybe even a plot that might lead to a way of getting to the wife and then to get her head to a noose or chopping block.
Unfortunately, the king of Denmark died (my image is of him in the arms of a much younger woman) and his lands were divided in such a way as to make this final ambition impossible to complete.
Crusader Kings II is a game that will surely divide both players and critics, mainly because it takes time and resources to get acquainted to its mechanics and begin to see how narratives begin to crawl from under the rather bleak gameplay mechanics and create impressive and sometimes unexpected personal stories of power, greed, military might and lost love.
I, for one, certainly plan to give it the time it needs to impress me.