'The Ylvings learned the importance of family to House Hvide. 'But the final straw - the drunken bastard declared he was going to wed my firstborn daughter.' But as I am a Christian and an honourable man, I went to see the King first and demand he step down.' 'They tried to reason with him, at first, but King Ossor did not take to demands kindly.' I simply let it be known that this would not stand, and any who agreed may come join me.' 'I made no speeches, no demands, no commandments, no denouncements. The son who was an arrogant, elderly, corpulently obese drunkard.' 'And he had passed it down to,' and here the Duke's voice was angry, 'the son who he was so certain would defeat me in battle. 'King Magnus had finally died, after seventy three years of life and fifty years daring to wear the Crown of Denmark, which he had stolen from my family.' 'It was time,' said the maimed duke stoically.

'But you put an end to that, didn't you Duke Sygtryg?' Scandinavia, united, was the last catholic bastions in the North. 'The Russian Principalities had likewise collapsed. The Kings of Poland, Navarra and Portugal had also converted, and before the decade was out the King of France would embrace the Fratrecelli heresy. Cathar Hungary was destabilising the Kingdom of Christ. 'And the Prophecy's other tenants were coming true. And only pagans stood between them and Sweden.' 'Another onslaught, from the north this time, just as large and terrible as the first. The Islamic world burned, and the world could do naught but tremble, for worse - far worse - was coming.' 'His armies, which had twice defeated the combined might of Christendom, were crushed by the hordes. The Caliph rallied the Muslims and rode to stop the devastation and reclaim Mecca, but the effort was futile.' 'Their empire was already vast and terrible, and none had yet been able to stop their immense onslaught.' 'The Mongols had sacked the city of Mecca, denying the Hajj to all faithful Muslims.' 'But the news,' said the Knight, suddenly manic again, 'from the other side of the world was not good.' This was but the last gasp of a defeated foe.' True praise lies with my honoured ancestors who shattered the Ylvings in the first place. 'My deeds were not so great - I commanded a mercenary company to go forth and bring me victory, and this they did. You finally succeeded, Duke Half-Hand! The vendetta your family carried for two hundred years was finally accomplished!' With this, they were nothing more than a landless collection of nobles, destined to die out in poverty and destitution. 'This was the last holding of the Ylving line. And what is just as remembered is why you chose that particular county to seize.' 'A crushing victory, one well remembered and well storied. 'And out of sentimentalism, you hired the Great Company in honour of their long alliance with your family, and together confronted the armies of the Duke.'

The Dukes of Skane had, for centuries, been investing in their realm and technological innovation. 'You brought war to Duke Knud, and you were amazed by the size of his armies. 'I remember! I made sure to remember all your family's fine tales.'

'Yes!' said the Knight, clapping his hands. 'Instead I worked to strengthen my position in the realm, and deal with his successor.' 'I was contemplating rising against King Magnus, with the aid of the Imperial Kaiser, but he had his own alliance with the Emperor. 'My concerns were domestic,' said the old Duke. 'And then they came, to conquer the Muslims, and you explained it as a punishment from God to the heathens.' You, like the rest of the world, dismissed the coming of the Mongol Hordes as fear and superstition.' The kings of the West will turn from God. His maimed hand rests upon the great white dog who sits by his side. 'What do you mean?' said the old man atop his throne. And you should be proud, o Duke, for your deeds were foretold and confirmation of my truth.' 'These are the end times,' he says again. His eyes are not crazed, as the listeners hope. Part 15: End Times ambition achieved: gain SA forums avatar (+1 diplomacy, +50 prestige).

After the end crusader kings 2