This is the story of the House of Jefe, played in the great Paradox Interactive medieval strategy game Crusader Kings II. I am somewhat of a novice/ungood player so I’ve mostly remained in Europe. My most successful games have been in Ireland, England, and Brittany (where I eventually took England over entirely). These all benefitted from a fractious neighborhood allowing military conquests with impunity. Been trying to get into a more political game recently. My first attempts were in western France (West Francia at the time) but I’ve switched to (I think eastern) Germany now. Still in West Francia but a different neighborhood, right up against Saxony. I pretty much only do 769 starts and try to get as far as possible. This one will be no different. Hopefully I don’t get frustrated and quit once I start having my first success & downturn but we’ll see, I usually only last for one dynastic peak.
As far as notable members of the House of Jefe go, the earliest is Razmataz of Nassau. Durch die Gnade Gottes Graf von Nassau on the date of 1 January im Jahre des Herrn 769, Razmataz was at that time an 18 year old boy of unknown origin. It’s suspected that he was a Babenberger bastard but this is an invention of later writers searching for some plausible explanation. It was documented of young Razmataz that he was a potential Fortune Builder, while also being Charitable and (unfortunately) Craven. He was the first member of his particular line to show strong ambition.
Razmataz’s first moves were quiet. He filled his inner council. He married Adela, the daughter of Count Loup, a commander in the West Frankish court as well as count of Bearn, Marsan, and Dax. He began what he in letters would call his “Constantinople strategy”, sending spies to the great city in order to bring their learning back to Nassau. This journey was a perilous one, of course, but bit by bit these advances did come back to the Jefe count.
On 10 November 769 the first child was born to Adela and Razmataz, a girl named Joshua. The child died just less than a year later. It seems that Razmataz became determined to bury the memory of this early loss. Around this time, the lands called “Middle Francia” came under the control of West Francia, creating one monolithic Frankish realm. Most of this passed right by Nassau and the House of Jefe. They were part of the ancient Duchy of Franconia, inundated from all those storms. Besides, they had castles to fill with children, which they dutifully did. A son Bosco was born in 772, followed by Joshua in 774 (this time a boy, but clearly an attempt at further closing off the memory of their first child’s death), and then in 776 came a daughter called Sybille. It’s said that Adela’s Lustfulness was too much for Razmataz who was often glad of her pregnancies for the the months-long break between her attentions.
Despite the growing Jefe brood, not much else worked for Razmataz. His trading efforts all came to nothing but stress. He earned little attention from his peers or his betters who busied themselves with suppressing unrest. In 778 he launched a large trading expedition to Severia in Ukraine which ended in complete disaster. He did become a Poet of minor repute, though none of his works survive to this day. Some building was begun, mostly financed by illicit gains which eventually began to tarnish his reputation. Though he was an experienced financier, his efforts to get appointed steward of Franconia were consistently denied.
By 780, Razmataz von Jefe was 29 years old, Graf von Nassau, married to Adela and father of Bosco, Joshua, and Sybille. He was known as a Fortune Builder, a Poet, Craven, Greedy, Deceitful, Charitable, and Stressed. His place in the history of the House of Jefe appeared to be restrictred to building a foundation for his children’s greatness. He perhaps had a long time to live but he was learning to accept Nassau as the bounds of his own world.
Shorter than I thought this time but I’m mostly feeling this out. Hopefully next time I’ll be more awake and ready to do editing images and all that, make it pretty. Hope you enjoyed!
