@sindocat Thanks. I really like to play parallel games, it is longer to play, but it moves both story lines simultaneously and make them more meaningful. Big fun!
I want to play ALL the premade families! One day...
Read all the posts in this thread, the pictures and stories are fantastic! It truly shows the potential of the game. I'm thrilled to play again, with more insight.
I want to play ALL the premade families! One day...
@Hejix - Well, that turned out to be a great idea! In my Sims 3 game, my werewolf dad, Teague, had already finished his Lifetime Wish to be top of the Law Enforcement career (International Super-Spy) and retired, and then rolled a wish to join the Writer career. I'd poked about with comic books, with the notion of them being civics magazines for the Scouts program, but that wasn't very satisfying. Your notion of Sims Medieval being the imaginary kingdom of a child playing at being Royal was inspiring.
So far, Teague has written several children's books: King Simrey the Young, Brother Jevon's Abbey, and Rolando the Spy. Currently in the works is Devon the Smith, and upcoming titles in the Chronicles of Kingland include The Sisters on the Hill, Sister Bethicca, Healer and Meaghan the Enchantress. If I run out of books to write before I have added new Heroes to my current game, I can write Hamfast the Hungry, Brother Jevon and the Chinchillas of the Wood and The Tall Oaks of Burdley, based on recent TSM play.
This is helping me not only move Teague's Writing career along - children's books don't pay very well, but are fast to write - it is also helping steer me through a "canon" iteration of Kingland, as I decide which Heroes I want Teague to portray. Some never vary - Thiobalt is always my bard - but others do. I wanted the story dynamic of my estranged Physician and Witch sisters, so Meaghan it is, rather than Barnabus, my male mage. I also plan to use my female Knight (to feature in Dame Valora the Bold) and Merchant (Averil, a Merchant of Kingland) on down the line. Augustin of Jacothia will be the last Hero book, because I dislike Jacobans.
Max has already read King Simrey the Young, having rolled a wish to Finish a Book. Sadly, offering praise for a written work seems not to be a kid interaction. But the collected Chronicles of Kingland are all going in the bookcase in the kids' room, as they are written. It's great to have an idea of how, exactly, my TSM play penetrates the world of my TS3 game, and has made it more fun to play both. Thank you!
@Sindocat Wow! Kingland forever, indeed! ;D Thanks for sharing! You make me want to go back to sims medieval. I only scratched the surface so far, but your enthusiasm for that game is contagious! I will, however, finish George Dean's story first (pondering on public services in Riverview as he is a cop and plans to be a firefighter). I think he'd make a wonderful knight in Catherine's game.
Also, do you have the dragon valley world in sims 3? I'm planning to use it as well. It was my plan b if I would not be able to install sims medieval.
I want to play ALL the premade families! One day...
I do, indeed! One of my legacy families started there, though I seem not to have documented it well, and I have a household I play there - a fairy Knight, his squire, and their (surprise!) twins, but I only play it when I have Pets loaded, as it's an equestrian household.
I have always been vaguely disappointed that TSM doesn't have horses (how can you have chivalry without a cheval?), and that Dragon Valley doesn't have swordplay, but I understand the limitations.
TSM was originally floated as an expansion pack for TS3 (why it uses the same engine) but ended up being spun off as a separate game. I get the feeling that a lot of Dragon Valley and Duke of Bows assets were originally designed with the abandoned EP as their intended outlet. There is a fair amount of overlap, for sure!
After completing "Dangerous Minds" along the educational track in my "eternal" iteration of Kingland, I decided to (re)decorate my Town Square, not only restoring the Hamfast Memorial I had raised there in the early days, but expanding it in front to indicate where classes are held for Kingland's children now that regular schooling has been instituted, thanks to the efforts of His Majesty, King Simrey XIII and the generosity of Merchant Averell. (In the background, Averell's ostentatious Jacoban arbor, in the middle of the marketplace).
This is Otto Reichsler (the naming follows the German pronounciation. So Reichsler sounds like "Reisler")
Noone knows of the origins of Otto. He used to say that he "came from the old land". He was nothing but a poor peasant who helped King Dietz Wendler von Ichenau establish his small kingdom. For his valuable assistance, the King made him a Peteran priest and named the kingdom partially after his surname and the surname of Otto, thus the small petty kingdom of Reichenau was born.
Otto was eloquent in tongue and very family oriented. He loved families and wanted to make one of his own one day. He was pious. He would spend a lot of times writing theological texts on the God when not giving sermons every day at 8 AM. He would spend hours talking to and advising and guiding other folk to the way of his God.
His evangelizations used to attract many people from this kingdom's village. Peasants, workers, members of the royal court, all kind and classes of people would gather outside his church to hear his well articulated words on the path to God.
He was so pious, that when one day he was wrongly accused by the King for spreading false rumors about him...
And despite the rude, ill mannered way Constable Aluredus handled the situation...
...when Otto was finally released, he immediately forgave him and blessed him
Otto Reichsler would occassionaly converse with King Dietz Wendler about political and religious matters concerning the kingdom
But King Dietz would gradually lose faith on Otto and his abilities to manage the religious affairs of the kingdom. See, Otto had one major negative trait: He was gluttonous. He was so foodie, that the folk started claiming that a man so greedy and dependent on food could not be the spiritual leader of the kingdom. Otto really loved food, he sometimes would eat 5 dishes per day, people wondered how he could stay fit.
Otto tried to explain the situation during his sermons, but less and less people would attend the mass each day
Eventually Otto married a woman of poor background, Belinda the Maid. Together, they produced two offsprings
Oslocht...
...and Otto
Otto's life was uneventful since the food scandal. He would teach his children the love for family, kindness and generosity a good man must have, he bought a lot of toys for his two children and even let other children enter his room and play with the toys and his two sons.
Soon, rumors began to spread about the way he interacted with the children. Many people claimed that the priest's teaching of compassion, love, peace and kindness discouraged children from dreaming of less-peaceful yet lucrative occupations like being a knight's follower, a squire, a hunter, or a politician. Also they claimed that the priest talked the children out of non-traditional careers, instead forcing his religious views and religious traditioness on the children. Soon, the priest fell out of favor with the King.
The King decided that getting rid of the priest Otto was much easier than dealing with the peasants, so he sent his constable to arrest him, this time not for the stocks but for the pit. Death awaited Otto Reichsler!
Otto, being non-violent, did not resist. He surrendered to his faith, begged for forgiveness to the deity he so much believed in and fell to the pit.
And as a result Otto, the priest of Reichenau, father of two, was eaten by the beast hiding in the pit. Such a cruel fate and punishment for someone who paid the consequences of actions that hadnt been proved. Was his punishment fair? Were the people who spread the rumors about him, right? Is this the end of the Reichsler family?
My Peteran is a Drunkard, but no one in Kingland would dream of holding that against him!
And poor Reichnau! This is exactly when Yacothia is going to want to sink its iron claws into the kingdom and assert Jacoban oversight!
May the Watcher have mercy!
May the Watcher have mercy and protect us from the evil Yacothians!
This may be the end of Otto but not the end of Reichenau. Will definitely upload a second part just for fun :P
Oslocht is one of the two sons of the now dead Otto Reichsler, the priest who was sentenced to death by King Dietz Wendler, ruler of the Kingdom of Reichenau.
Growing up, Oslocht always dreamed of revenge. He wanted to murder the King himself for what he did to his dad. He realized that the best way to do this was to swear loyalty to the very man who hated, the King himself, earned his trust, and work his way up from simple spy assistance to the leader of the Kingdom's espionage network. The fact that both he and his brother disappeared after his Father's death was a reason why King Dietz could not recognize who he is. So many years had passed, after all.
Unlike his dad, Oslocht was not very pious, nor religious. He partially blamed his dad for his death after all, believing that the whole "no-violent" policy of his father was mere 🌺🌺🌺🌺!t and cost his life. He blamed his dad, he blamed the God, but mostly blamed the King.
Oslocht grew up to be more reserved, cautious, suspicious of the people around him. He had a harsh upbringing after all, after his dad's death he grew up in miserable poverty, his mother unable to provide for her two children, he sometimes would beg for money in the streets of the village of Reichenau. One day, he stole an apple. Then chunks of meat, then some shoes from the local tailor shop.
Soon, he grew accustomed to an unlawful life, and although he was caught many times, his "deeds" reached the royal palace where they summoned him to serve the King in his effort to track down, detect and poison his political opponents.
And while Otto spent a great deal of his youth completing the petty tasks of the King (like feeding the very same beast that ate his father) he did not stop conspiring against him.
Oslocht had decided to poison his food. In his attempt to gather the necessary information and ingredients, he earned a "friendship" with some disreputable group of people, like the gypsies and various consorts...
He also conspired with Bastian Dingeth, a man of noble ancestry who had a claim on the throne of King Dietz and an army of mercenaries to back him up.
He also made sure to steal money coming from the Kingdom's taxation. Poison and information cost money, and Oslocht had developed the skills required to "acquire" coins by less legal means.
Oslocht quickly got rich, thanks to his stealing, and thanks to the funds received by the claimer of the throne, Bastian Dingeth.
Oslocht was so obsessed with his revenge, that, he even married a less than attractive guard, Jesmaine. A guard who guarded the castle and sometimes the King himself, and knew the way around the royal domain. Slowly but steadily, Oslocht extracted all kind of information from her, piece by piece. Together they birthed two children:
Giselbrecht...
...and Otto.
And although he enjoyed seeing his two sons grow up, he was nowhere nearly as compassionate and loving as his dad was.
For Oslocht, the life of his dad was a proof that love and trust must be earned and not to be given freely to anyone.
His sons would also remind him of his long-forgotten younger brother, Otto. That boy, a few days after the death of his father, was lost in the forest. He never came back. Noone knows what happened to him.
When the day to poison the food of the King came, Oslocht had no trouble infiltrating in the royal palace and poison the food of the King. It was all too easy for him. A few hours later, the King was dead.
Bastian Dingeth exercised his right to claim the throne. As the only claimer, he became the next King of Reichenau.
The very next day, the new King Bastian accused Oslocht, his former ally, for the death of the former King.
King Bastian believed that oslocht was a major loose end, he is the only one who knew that he had conspired against the old King.
The men exchanged accusations, but noone was willing to stand against the newly crowned King. Oslocht was sent to the pit, to be eaten by the very same beast that ate his father.
Oslocht jumped in valiantly, determined to survive this fight against all odds.
This fight was brutal. Oslocht, armed with his sword and two small daggers dealt a lot of small wounds in every part of the body of the monster...
...and emerged victorious!
Then the King again sent him to the pit.
Only to emerge victorious....
...again....
...and again!
Frustated with Oslocht's ability to keep coming back from the Pit, the King Bastian challenged him to a duel to death.
For King Bastian, his aristocratic upbringing that included sword training were more than enough to defeat a street thug.
A street thug whose poor street life had honed his shrewdness and wit.
In the end, Oslocht managed elude most of the King's strikes and swiftly deal two blows on the King's right arm and stomach.
But King Bastian was a survivor and did survive the battle.
Oslocht spared the King, in exchange the King would spare Oslocht's life and let him live in peace.
King Bastian agreed but with the additional condition of exiling Oslocht away from the Reichenau lands. And so Oslocht left the kingdom, and King Bastian, although he had to experience the humiliating defeat at the hands of his enemy, he was left to rule Reichenau unopposed.
They are the sons of Oslocht and Jesmaine. Oslocht was forced to leave the Kingdom of Reichenau as he was responsible for the murder of the previous King, King Dietz
Otto had inherited the piousness and God-loving attitude from his grandfather. He became a monk, just like his grandpa.
When the other priest would comment on how much effort he gives on keeping the church clean, he would say that he does it to wash his sins away. Plus he didnt want to make the Acolyte clean his room.
His brother was a whole different character. A pagan in his early youth, a promiscuous lover and author of some of the best poems and plays in the history of Reichenau.
He would spend most of his days either playing songs with his lute, writing poems of erotic nature, and sleeping with women. Many women in fact.
Like this one...
...or this one....
...or this one.
In fact Giselbrecht was so a bit arrogant that he couldnt help but show off in front of his brother
But his greatest conquest was none other than the Queen herself, Barbera von Resden
He would, sing, drink and write poems in her name
And even after he settled down by marrying the Queen...
...he amused himself by flirting with the servant of the Queen.
His manners and skilful play is what made him and the tavern so popular.
The Reichsler brothers, or the Golden brothers as they use to call them due to the color of their clothes, dominated the religious and social lifestyle of the Kingdom. Most of the sermons of Otto was a success, drawing a lot of people. Otto did not marry though, prefering instead to devote his life to God.
Giselbrecht on the other hand married the Queen herself, ensuring that his children will inherit the throne.
And he declared that blue and yellow will be the royal emblem of his offsprings, a representation of those who carry his name.
This is Oslocht Reichsler, known as Oslocht the first. We know from the previous story, that his Father Giselbrecht married the Queen of Reichenau, Barbera von Resden. Through this marriage, Oslocht became the heir to the throne. Upon becoming King, he made his sister Jesmaine a Knight.
Oslocht the first was one of the first truly capable Kings of Reichenau. Although his predecessors had managed to build up the kingdom and expand in the area, Oslocht was the first King to build a centralized government and rely on the royal army instead of opportunistic mercenaries.
Oslocht was also the first King to establish a minimum income of 120 simoles for all of his subjects, and provide protection to the traveling merchants of his Kingdom.
He established the blue/yellow color as the official emblem of the Reichsler family, like his Father had done before him. He decorated the Castle and made it look truly royal.
When he found out that most of his servants were poor and didnt even have proper bathrooms in their houses, his kindness reach a whole new level by allowing them to use his personal bathroom for themselves at the end of each day.
And yet despite his unmatched leadership skills that made Reichenau a local superpower, Oslocht the first always felt that something is missing from him...something in his life is empty, devoid of any meaning.
Because of that feeling of emptiness, Oslocht would ocassionally be moody, temperamental, and sometimes even distressed to such a point that he would stay on his bed the whole day.
His sister, Jesmaine, was the only one aware of the situation and the only one capable of providing that much needed support.
Therefore his sister was the only one he could rely upon to confess his problems. Jesmaine and oslocht would spend a lot of time together managing the kingdom.
He loved her so much that he allowed her to sit beside him, almost like a Queen, and declared that no law shall be adopted if it is not approved by both the King AND his sister.
Soon, the King would be more and more obsessed with his sister and would slowly derail from proper leadership, instead prefering to attend grand feasts with Jesmaine.
The public love affair that both demonstrated was almost scandalous.
The court was tired of seeing the King being so preoccupied with his sister. They demanded that the King return to his duty.
Soon, rumors began to spread.
To combat the rumors, Oslocht did seek advice in the church. He explained how he does not desire his sister in any wicked way. The priest advised him to marry. That would distract the populace and also, the creation of a family would fill in the emotional gap. And he ended up marrying a noblewoman called Vanessa.
Although Oslocht and Vanessa gave birth to two beautiful children, Oslocht continued feeling empty. He failed to love his wife and ended up divorcing. A guard and good friend of him advised him to marry again.
And he did.
He ended up marrying four women, birthing 8 children in total. None of that love coming from his wives and children were enough to fill the emotional emptiness that tormented him ever since he became a King.
He felt unfulfilled. His inner desires unrealized. He had failed to find true love. He was depressed. And then, he saw it!
The most pleasant, adorable, fascinating thing he could ever see.
Her voluptuous body and the way it moved mesmerized him. Her classy and graceful mannerisms entertained his eyes more than any other woman could ever have done.
She was so enthralling and attractive, the King blamed himself for having such a diamond right in front of him all this time and ignoring it.
It was the woman who had stood by his side throughout his entire life as a King.
It was at this day that the King's heart experienced an exciting fulfilment all over again, the promise of re-discovering life and its true purpose. It was at this day that the King of Reichenau realized, that he was in love with his sister all along! He realized that it was the suppression of his feelings toward her sister that made him suffer.
The day he finally declared his true feelings to her, was the day he found true happiness. When Jesmaine told him that she always knew his inclination, and that she only waited so that it could grow and find acceptance inside him, he knew that the feelings were mutual.
He declared to the entire kingdom that he would marry his very own sister, Jesmaine. Soon, she was pregnant. And they gave birth to four children together.
The peasants chose to ignore the immoral actions of their King, for his skillful leadership benefited them the most, and the strong presence of the new royal army "persuaded" them to stay away from protesting or even spreading vile rumors about him.
And those who dared to protest, well...they ended up in the stocks.
But little did those medieval people knew about genetics. All but one of their children were born deformed and died before they reach 10 years of age.
Griselda was born with severe birth defects and died by the age of 8.
Marcella was born with a deformed leg and partial mental impairment. The girl suffered so much, that Oslocht himself killed her to end her suffering when she was 9 years old.
Their only son Henry was sent to Advorton Military academy. He didnt make it to his 11th birthday.
Zelda (pictured) is the only kid that survived and aged up normally, although signs of mental disorders were visible. She is also the only heir to the throne, even if Oslocht had fathered numerous boys and girls with his past wives.
That was the history of Oslocht the first and his sister, the Knight Jesmaine.
Oslocht was the man who centralized the kingdom, establish a royal army, provided a higher income to the masses and made Reichenau a force to be reckoned with.
But Oslocht was also a restless man of ambiguous morality. He was the man who married and impregnated his sister four times. In the end, he suffered the consequences of his incestuous character by witnessing the death of his children.
How will history remember him? And most importantly, what will happen to the heir to the throne of Reichenau, Zelda?
Ah, the backstory of a leader who brought some good change to the common man of his kingdom. Backstories have a life of their own sometimes... What a brave story to write of the Hapsburg Reichsler Dynasty. (I enjoyed your humor and the addition of speech bubbles.)
If he or his sister chose to adopt a child, would the child be accepted by the kingdom as an heir, or will a half-blood child be able to become the next one to the Throne? Many things could happen. So much intrigue even in RL royalty -- for sure.
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Ah, the backstory of a leader who brought some good change to the common man of his kingdom. Backstories have a life of their own sometimes... What a brave story to write of the Hapsburg Reichsler Dynasty. (I enjoyed your humor and the addition of speech bubbles.)
If he or his sister chose to adopt a child, would the child be accepted by the kingdom as an heir, or will a half-blood child be able to become the next one to the Throne? Many things could happen. So much intrigue even in RL royalty -- for sure.
I follow a specific "philosophy" when I write the stories. I keep in mind that the dark ages were just that: Dark. People were not always nice and royalty wasn't always moral. Also, they were not totally good or bad. Historically speaking, most leaders have done both good and bad things. Reichsler family is not an exception. These are stories where the protagonist might be the bad guy from time to time. I also develop the stories as I play, that way my playstyle is more spontaneous (and enjoyable to me) and less pre-determined.
Unfortunately, the Reichsler family, being medieval and all, are not really open-minded, so they are not willing to adopt a child. In fact, they are very narrow-minded and their thinking reflects that of many real-life medieval dynasties: They want to birth many children, but they value boys more than girls. Oslocht the first (the protagonist of this story) was very unhappy that only 3 out of his 12 children were boys. And yet he made his daughter Zelda the next heir after advice from her sister (and errr wife )
I suspect that an adopted heir/heiress would face strong opposition from the biological offsprings of his/her parents, because, well, he/she is adopted.
Thank you. It's my impression that Zelda's reign could be fraught with challenges to her people. Bloodlines had come to mean so much to Western European royalty, but I'm not well-read on this subject or its history.
The Reichsler family is still young. No telling what lies ahead. Looking forward to the next installment. Please continue!
Not my usual territory... Now I'm intrigued.
I was thinking of the storyline of English King Athelstan and his adoption of Norwegian King Haarold's child, who later returned home and became Norway's King Haakon I (the Good)-- then again, I don't know the story well. I'm no historian, yikes. The Haakon story happens a bit earlier in the timeline of Western European medieval history right after the fall of the Roman Empire. Norway's Haakon IV is yet another interesting story (this Hakon IV was initially a Norwegian's king's illegitimate child) who later became quite famous as King (Haakon the Old). Your stories are reminding me of so much royal intrigue!
There is a Norwegian 2016 movie I haven't yet seen, based on the rescue of the illegitimate infant who later became Haakon the Old. (English title: The Last King; Original Norwegian title: Birkebeinerne).
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This is Zelda Reichsler, daughter of the licentious relationship between the King of Reichenau Oslocht and his sister, Jesmaine. It is known from the previous part that all of her siblings from the same parents died because they were born with various deformations and mental issues, and she was the only one who survived infancy and adolescence unscathed. Or did she?
Although Zelda's mental instability was not visible in her early years, she would soon suffer lots of mental breakdowns. The mental 🌺🌺🌺🌺 was slow and gradual, invisible by her early 20s and very dominant by her mid 30's.
The gradual increase of explosive outbursts of anger and violence worried many of her advisors in the court who believed that she is not capable of ruling the kingdom anymore.
She would sentence many people to death for the most silly reason. And she would enjoy watching them suffer.
She would ignore the plea of peasants for help, instead she enjoyed talking to her mirror endlessly
The court and the nobility realized how irreversible her situation was when she ordered to unearth her father's skeleton so she can sleep with his skull and "always seek his advice" as she used to say.
She did not even respect the tradition of having blue and yellow color representing her family, a custom established by her grandfather Giselbrecht.
She painted the throne room red, to remind her "the amount of blood that must be spilled" in order to punish the dissidents and those who object to her rule.
And the creepy way she decorated it only reflected how disturbed she was.
And yet despite the problems caused by her mental instability, she went on to reign for over 17 years unchallenged. Her father had stablised the economy of the kingdom achieving an economic surplus, political strength and overall happiness in the kingdom, making the life of his successor easier.
Overmore, the very costly feasts the Queen would arrange occasionally were glorious although slowly emptied the royal treasury.
But what triggered the court the most, was her apathy for matters of foreign affairs. Militarily speaking, Reichenau was clinging on to power, with multiple rebellions taking place and challenging the Reichenau authority.
Matters of foreign affairs were viewed as very important, for they defined the security of the kingdom and its people. The knights and the army officers began protesting about the Queen's indifference to those affairs. The Marshal of the army took notice of these problems, and decided to pay a visit to the Queen herself.
The Marshal of the army was not a random noble, however. His name was Otto Reichsler and was a half-brother of the Queen. Otto accused her of neglecting the kingdom and ruining the accomplishments of their father Oslocht, reminding her that he should be the King.
Before the Queen even had the chance to reply, Otto pulled out his sword...
...and thrusted it deep inside her half-sister's womb.
The mad Queen was dead by her very own half brother.
Reichenau was troubled by this action. Some were relieved for getting rid of the mad queen, others objected to the way Otto used to claim the throne, especially the religious clergy and parts of the nobility.
The assassination was about to usher an era of turmoil and political uncertainty in the kingdom of Reichenau, and with nobles and the priesthood objecting to the cruel way Otto used to become King, the civil war looked more possible than ever before.
Thank you. It's my impression that Zelda's reign could be fraught with challenges to her people. Bloodlines had come to mean so much to Western European royalty, but I'm not well-read on this subject or its history.
The Reichsler family is still young. No telling what lies ahead. Looking forward to the next installment. Please continue!
Not my usual territory... Now I'm intrigued.
I was thinking of the storyline of English King Athelstan and his adoption of Norwegian King Haarold's child, who later returned home and became Norway's King Haakon I (the Good)-- then again, I don't know the story well. I'm no historian, yikes. The Haakon story happens a bit earlier in the timeline of Western European medieval history right after the fall of the Roman Empire. Norway's Haakon IV is yet another interesting story (this Hakon IV was initially a Norwegian's king's illegitimate child) who later became quite famous as King (Haakon the Old). Your stories are reminding me of so much royal intrigue!
There is a Norwegian 2016 movie I haven't yet seen, based on the rescue of the illegitimate infant who later became Haakon the Old. (English title: The Last King; Original Norwegian title: Birkebeinerne).
Yeah, well I am not an expert on medieval European royal history either. I do know that Norway had its own empire (🌺🌺🌺🌺 the great??) and then there is Harold Haldrada who served the Byzantine army and later became King of Norway. Impressive.
You mentioned "Western Europe". Well, Reichsler's story does not take place in Western Europe....or does it? According to the lore of the sims, the sims medieval take place in a "new land". Then soon, the land of the sims (Sims nation, Simerica, Simsonia etc) was founded. Presumably, that resembles the story of the Europeans who discovered the "new land" and built kingdoms there (colonies actually), slowly leading up to the creation of the USA.
Great installment to the story and your commentary to my post(s).
Your illustrations to capture the events are fun to see. I love the bubbles, so entertaining to read.
I can't even begin to guess what will happen next in the Kingdom. Scary times for the people!
Thanks. Soon I will write new stories with the Reichsler family in the wild west in 1840's in Texas (they will be the descendants of the medieval Reichsler family :P :P ) and they will be based on the sims 4 game.
I want to transfer all of my stories to a blog so I don't litter the place here but I dont know which type of blog is the best for this thing (aka WordPress, or Tumblr, or...??)
I'm a dinosaur, and when I started helping people administrate their online web goals, we used Blogspot (there wasn't a lot of choice then) and I design coded their blogs at the time to match the websites I did for them. I've retired from that hobby so I have more time for games (lol). I've grown weary of google...
So you do have a lot of choice now. Some simmers tend to like wordpress for tons of ez to install free design templates and scripts. Blogspot has those options too, and as fewer people used blogspot and moved to wordpress -- some of the wp templates had security problems if not updated regularly, so blogs were shot down by the evil empires out there. So that's little warning of online vulnerability no matter where you go when you use templates that are not kept updated.
Plenty of simmers use Wix or Weebly, Yahoo as well as Tumblr (and this is decades after my previous hobby, so I can't advise), but be aware of fantastic working scripts /templates that can break your security when they are abandoned by the author and no longer updated.
I suggest you try different services with a Testing-ID before rolling out your official site. A blog is a great idea bc this EA site tends to get Bull-in-a-China-Shop updates and break links, and they don't seem to give a button about it.. They've destroyed entire topics of useful tutorials by mowing them down with coding nukes that were not tested enuff.
Best wishes on your decisions. The test blogs can also let you mess with ideas without hurting your main site.
Maybe others have better experiences with the plethora of choices now.
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So far, Teague has written several children's books: King Simrey the Young, Brother Jevon's Abbey, and Rolando the Spy. Currently in the works is Devon the Smith, and upcoming titles in the Chronicles of Kingland include The Sisters on the Hill, Sister Bethicca, Healer and Meaghan the Enchantress. If I run out of books to write before I have added new Heroes to my current game, I can write Hamfast the Hungry, Brother Jevon and the Chinchillas of the Wood and The Tall Oaks of Burdley, based on recent TSM play.
This is helping me not only move Teague's Writing career along - children's books don't pay very well, but are fast to write - it is also helping steer me through a "canon" iteration of Kingland, as I decide which Heroes I want Teague to portray. Some never vary - Thiobalt is always my bard - but others do. I wanted the story dynamic of my estranged Physician and Witch sisters, so Meaghan it is, rather than Barnabus, my male mage. I also plan to use my female Knight (to feature in Dame Valora the Bold) and Merchant (Averil, a Merchant of Kingland) on down the line. Augustin of Jacothia will be the last Hero book, because I dislike Jacobans.
Max has already read King Simrey the Young, having rolled a wish to Finish a Book. Sadly, offering praise for a written work seems not to be a kid interaction. But the collected Chronicles of Kingland are all going in the bookcase in the kids' room, as they are written. It's great to have an idea of how, exactly, my TSM play penetrates the world of my TS3 game, and has made it more fun to play both. Thank you!
Kingland, Forever!
Also, do you have the dragon valley world in sims 3? I'm planning to use it as well. It was my plan b if I would not be able to install sims medieval.
I have always been vaguely disappointed that TSM doesn't have horses (how can you have chivalry without a cheval?), and that Dragon Valley doesn't have swordplay, but I understand the limitations.
TSM was originally floated as an expansion pack for TS3 (why it uses the same engine) but ended up being spun off as a separate game. I get the feeling that a lot of Dragon Valley and Duke of Bows assets were originally designed with the abandoned EP as their intended outlet. There is a fair amount of overlap, for sure!
This is Otto Reichsler (the naming follows the German pronounciation. So Reichsler sounds like "Reisler")
Noone knows of the origins of Otto. He used to say that he "came from the old land". He was nothing but a poor peasant who helped King Dietz Wendler von Ichenau establish his small kingdom. For his valuable assistance, the King made him a Peteran priest and named the kingdom partially after his surname and the surname of Otto, thus the small petty kingdom of Reichenau was born.
Otto was eloquent in tongue and very family oriented. He loved families and wanted to make one of his own one day. He was pious. He would spend a lot of times writing theological texts on the God when not giving sermons every day at 8 AM. He would spend hours talking to and advising and guiding other folk to the way of his God.
His evangelizations used to attract many people from this kingdom's village. Peasants, workers, members of the royal court, all kind and classes of people would gather outside his church to hear his well articulated words on the path to God.
He was so pious, that when one day he was wrongly accused by the King for spreading false rumors about him...
And despite the rude, ill mannered way Constable Aluredus handled the situation...
...when Otto was finally released, he immediately forgave him and blessed him
Otto Reichsler would occassionaly converse with King Dietz Wendler about political and religious matters concerning the kingdom
But King Dietz would gradually lose faith on Otto and his abilities to manage the religious affairs of the kingdom. See, Otto had one major negative trait: He was gluttonous. He was so foodie, that the folk started claiming that a man so greedy and dependent on food could not be the spiritual leader of the kingdom. Otto really loved food, he sometimes would eat 5 dishes per day, people wondered how he could stay fit.
Otto tried to explain the situation during his sermons, but less and less people would attend the mass each day
Eventually Otto married a woman of poor background, Belinda the Maid. Together, they produced two offsprings
Oslocht...
...and Otto
Otto's life was uneventful since the food scandal. He would teach his children the love for family, kindness and generosity a good man must have, he bought a lot of toys for his two children and even let other children enter his room and play with the toys and his two sons.
Soon, rumors began to spread about the way he interacted with the children. Many people claimed that the priest's teaching of compassion, love, peace and kindness discouraged children from dreaming of less-peaceful yet lucrative occupations like being a knight's follower, a squire, a hunter, or a politician. Also they claimed that the priest talked the children out of non-traditional careers, instead forcing his religious views and religious traditioness on the children. Soon, the priest fell out of favor with the King.
The King decided that getting rid of the priest Otto was much easier than dealing with the peasants, so he sent his constable to arrest him, this time not for the stocks but for the pit. Death awaited Otto Reichsler!
Otto, being non-violent, did not resist. He surrendered to his faith, begged for forgiveness to the deity he so much believed in and fell to the pit.
And as a result Otto, the priest of Reichenau, father of two, was eaten by the beast hiding in the pit. Such a cruel fate and punishment for someone who paid the consequences of actions that hadnt been proved. Was his punishment fair? Were the people who spread the rumors about him, right? Is this the end of the Reichsler family?
My Peteran is a Drunkard, but no one in Kingland would dream of holding that against him!
And poor Reichnau! This is exactly when Yacothia is going to want to sink its iron claws into the kingdom and assert Jacoban oversight!
May the Watcher have mercy!
May the Watcher have mercy and protect us from the evil Yacothians!
This may be the end of Otto but not the end of Reichenau. Will definitely upload a second part just for fun :P
This is Oslocht Reichsler
Oslocht is one of the two sons of the now dead Otto Reichsler, the priest who was sentenced to death by King Dietz Wendler, ruler of the Kingdom of Reichenau.
Growing up, Oslocht always dreamed of revenge. He wanted to murder the King himself for what he did to his dad. He realized that the best way to do this was to swear loyalty to the very man who hated, the King himself, earned his trust, and work his way up from simple spy assistance to the leader of the Kingdom's espionage network. The fact that both he and his brother disappeared after his Father's death was a reason why King Dietz could not recognize who he is. So many years had passed, after all.
Unlike his dad, Oslocht was not very pious, nor religious. He partially blamed his dad for his death after all, believing that the whole "no-violent" policy of his father was mere 🌺🌺🌺🌺!t and cost his life. He blamed his dad, he blamed the God, but mostly blamed the King.
Oslocht grew up to be more reserved, cautious, suspicious of the people around him. He had a harsh upbringing after all, after his dad's death he grew up in miserable poverty, his mother unable to provide for her two children, he sometimes would beg for money in the streets of the village of Reichenau. One day, he stole an apple. Then chunks of meat, then some shoes from the local tailor shop.
Soon, he grew accustomed to an unlawful life, and although he was caught many times, his "deeds" reached the royal palace where they summoned him to serve the King in his effort to track down, detect and poison his political opponents.
And while Otto spent a great deal of his youth completing the petty tasks of the King (like feeding the very same beast that ate his father) he did not stop conspiring against him.
Oslocht had decided to poison his food. In his attempt to gather the necessary information and ingredients, he earned a "friendship" with some disreputable group of people, like the gypsies and various consorts...
He also conspired with Bastian Dingeth, a man of noble ancestry who had a claim on the throne of King Dietz and an army of mercenaries to back him up.
He also made sure to steal money coming from the Kingdom's taxation. Poison and information cost money, and Oslocht had developed the skills required to "acquire" coins by less legal means.
Oslocht quickly got rich, thanks to his stealing, and thanks to the funds received by the claimer of the throne, Bastian Dingeth.
Oslocht was so obsessed with his revenge, that, he even married a less than attractive guard, Jesmaine. A guard who guarded the castle and sometimes the King himself, and knew the way around the royal domain. Slowly but steadily, Oslocht extracted all kind of information from her, piece by piece. Together they birthed two children:
Giselbrecht...
...and Otto.
And although he enjoyed seeing his two sons grow up, he was nowhere nearly as compassionate and loving as his dad was.
For Oslocht, the life of his dad was a proof that love and trust must be earned and not to be given freely to anyone.
His sons would also remind him of his long-forgotten younger brother, Otto. That boy, a few days after the death of his father, was lost in the forest. He never came back. Noone knows what happened to him.
When the day to poison the food of the King came, Oslocht had no trouble infiltrating in the royal palace and poison the food of the King. It was all too easy for him. A few hours later, the King was dead.
Bastian Dingeth exercised his right to claim the throne. As the only claimer, he became the next King of Reichenau.
The very next day, the new King Bastian accused Oslocht, his former ally, for the death of the former King.
King Bastian believed that oslocht was a major loose end, he is the only one who knew that he had conspired against the old King.
The men exchanged accusations, but noone was willing to stand against the newly crowned King. Oslocht was sent to the pit, to be eaten by the very same beast that ate his father.
Oslocht jumped in valiantly, determined to survive this fight against all odds.
This fight was brutal. Oslocht, armed with his sword and two small daggers dealt a lot of small wounds in every part of the body of the monster...
...and emerged victorious!
Then the King again sent him to the pit.
Only to emerge victorious....
...again....
...and again!
Frustated with Oslocht's ability to keep coming back from the Pit, the King Bastian challenged him to a duel to death.
For King Bastian, his aristocratic upbringing that included sword training were more than enough to defeat a street thug.
A street thug whose poor street life had honed his shrewdness and wit.
In the end, Oslocht managed elude most of the King's strikes and swiftly deal two blows on the King's right arm and stomach.
But King Bastian was a survivor and did survive the battle.
Oslocht spared the King, in exchange the King would spare Oslocht's life and let him live in peace.
King Bastian agreed but with the additional condition of exiling Oslocht away from the Reichenau lands. And so Oslocht left the kingdom, and King Bastian, although he had to experience the humiliating defeat at the hands of his enemy, he was left to rule Reichenau unopposed.
I sent a NPC sim to the pit and the second time they were sent, they were eaten. Then the game re-spawned the exact same NPC back into the world.
What I learned is don't put a wine casket in the Peteran priest's room because the wine guzzling Fyiar will come back over and over.
This is Giselbrecht Reichsler
And this is his brother, Otto.
They are the sons of Oslocht and Jesmaine. Oslocht was forced to leave the Kingdom of Reichenau as he was responsible for the murder of the previous King, King Dietz
Otto had inherited the piousness and God-loving attitude from his grandfather. He became a monk, just like his grandpa.
When the other priest would comment on how much effort he gives on keeping the church clean, he would say that he does it to wash his sins away. Plus he didnt want to make the Acolyte clean his room.
His brother was a whole different character. A pagan in his early youth, a promiscuous lover and author of some of the best poems and plays in the history of Reichenau.
He would spend most of his days either playing songs with his lute, writing poems of erotic nature, and sleeping with women. Many women in fact.
Like this one...
...or this one....
...or this one.
In fact Giselbrecht was so a bit arrogant that he couldnt help but show off in front of his brother
But his greatest conquest was none other than the Queen herself, Barbera von Resden
He would, sing, drink and write poems in her name
And even after he settled down by marrying the Queen...
...he amused himself by flirting with the servant of the Queen.
His manners and skilful play is what made him and the tavern so popular.
The Reichsler brothers, or the Golden brothers as they use to call them due to the color of their clothes, dominated the religious and social lifestyle of the Kingdom. Most of the sermons of Otto was a success, drawing a lot of people. Otto did not marry though, prefering instead to devote his life to God.
Giselbrecht on the other hand married the Queen herself, ensuring that his children will inherit the throne.
And he declared that blue and yellow will be the royal emblem of his offsprings, a representation of those who carry his name.
Their children was Jesmaine...
...And Oslocht
This is Oslocht Reichsler, known as Oslocht the first. We know from the previous story, that his Father Giselbrecht married the Queen of Reichenau, Barbera von Resden. Through this marriage, Oslocht became the heir to the throne. Upon becoming King, he made his sister Jesmaine a Knight.
Oslocht the first was one of the first truly capable Kings of Reichenau. Although his predecessors had managed to build up the kingdom and expand in the area, Oslocht was the first King to build a centralized government and rely on the royal army instead of opportunistic mercenaries.
Oslocht was also the first King to establish a minimum income of 120 simoles for all of his subjects, and provide protection to the traveling merchants of his Kingdom.
He established the blue/yellow color as the official emblem of the Reichsler family, like his Father had done before him. He decorated the Castle and made it look truly royal.
When he found out that most of his servants were poor and didnt even have proper bathrooms in their houses, his kindness reach a whole new level by allowing them to use his personal bathroom for themselves at the end of each day.
And yet despite his unmatched leadership skills that made Reichenau a local superpower, Oslocht the first always felt that something is missing from him...something in his life is empty, devoid of any meaning.
Because of that feeling of emptiness, Oslocht would ocassionally be moody, temperamental, and sometimes even distressed to such a point that he would stay on his bed the whole day.
His sister, Jesmaine, was the only one aware of the situation and the only one capable of providing that much needed support.
Therefore his sister was the only one he could rely upon to confess his problems. Jesmaine and oslocht would spend a lot of time together managing the kingdom.
He loved her so much that he allowed her to sit beside him, almost like a Queen, and declared that no law shall be adopted if it is not approved by both the King AND his sister.
Soon, the King would be more and more obsessed with his sister and would slowly derail from proper leadership, instead prefering to attend grand feasts with Jesmaine.
The public love affair that both demonstrated was almost scandalous.
The court was tired of seeing the King being so preoccupied with his sister. They demanded that the King return to his duty.
Soon, rumors began to spread.
To combat the rumors, Oslocht did seek advice in the church. He explained how he does not desire his sister in any wicked way. The priest advised him to marry. That would distract the populace and also, the creation of a family would fill in the emotional gap. And he ended up marrying a noblewoman called Vanessa.
Although Oslocht and Vanessa gave birth to two beautiful children, Oslocht continued feeling empty. He failed to love his wife and ended up divorcing. A guard and good friend of him advised him to marry again.
And he did.
He ended up marrying four women, birthing 8 children in total. None of that love coming from his wives and children were enough to fill the emotional emptiness that tormented him ever since he became a King.
He felt unfulfilled. His inner desires unrealized. He had failed to find true love. He was depressed. And then, he saw it!
The most pleasant, adorable, fascinating thing he could ever see.
Her voluptuous body and the way it moved mesmerized him. Her classy and graceful mannerisms entertained his eyes more than any other woman could ever have done.
She was so enthralling and attractive, the King blamed himself for having such a diamond right in front of him all this time and ignoring it.
It was the woman who had stood by his side throughout his entire life as a King.
It was at this day that the King's heart experienced an exciting fulfilment all over again, the promise of re-discovering life and its true purpose. It was at this day that the King of Reichenau realized, that he was in love with his sister all along! He realized that it was the suppression of his feelings toward her sister that made him suffer.
The day he finally declared his true feelings to her, was the day he found true happiness. When Jesmaine told him that she always knew his inclination, and that she only waited so that it could grow and find acceptance inside him, he knew that the feelings were mutual.
He declared to the entire kingdom that he would marry his very own sister, Jesmaine. Soon, she was pregnant. And they gave birth to four children together.
The peasants chose to ignore the immoral actions of their King, for his skillful leadership benefited them the most, and the strong presence of the new royal army "persuaded" them to stay away from protesting or even spreading vile rumors about him.
And those who dared to protest, well...they ended up in the stocks.
But little did those medieval people knew about genetics. All but one of their children were born deformed and died before they reach 10 years of age.
Griselda was born with severe birth defects and died by the age of 8.
Marcella was born with a deformed leg and partial mental impairment. The girl suffered so much, that Oslocht himself killed her to end her suffering when she was 9 years old.
Their only son Henry was sent to Advorton Military academy. He didnt make it to his 11th birthday.
Zelda (pictured) is the only kid that survived and aged up normally, although signs of mental disorders were visible. She is also the only heir to the throne, even if Oslocht had fathered numerous boys and girls with his past wives.
That was the history of Oslocht the first and his sister, the Knight Jesmaine.
Oslocht was the man who centralized the kingdom, establish a royal army, provided a higher income to the masses and made Reichenau a force to be reckoned with.
But Oslocht was also a restless man of ambiguous morality. He was the man who married and impregnated his sister four times. In the end, he suffered the consequences of his incestuous character by witnessing the death of his children.
How will history remember him? And most importantly, what will happen to the heir to the throne of Reichenau, Zelda?
If he or his sister chose to adopt a child, would the child be accepted by the kingdom as an heir, or will a half-blood child be able to become the next one to the Throne? Many things could happen. So much intrigue even in RL royalty -- for sure.
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I follow a specific "philosophy" when I write the stories. I keep in mind that the dark ages were just that: Dark. People were not always nice and royalty wasn't always moral. Also, they were not totally good or bad. Historically speaking, most leaders have done both good and bad things. Reichsler family is not an exception. These are stories where the protagonist might be the bad guy from time to time. I also develop the stories as I play, that way my playstyle is more spontaneous (and enjoyable to me) and less pre-determined.
Unfortunately, the Reichsler family, being medieval and all, are not really open-minded, so they are not willing to adopt a child. In fact, they are very narrow-minded and their thinking reflects that of many real-life medieval dynasties: They want to birth many children, but they value boys more than girls. Oslocht the first (the protagonist of this story) was very unhappy that only 3 out of his 12 children were boys. And yet he made his daughter Zelda the next heir after advice from her sister (and errr wife
I suspect that an adopted heir/heiress would face strong opposition from the biological offsprings of his/her parents, because, well, he/she is adopted.
Welcome to the really dark, age :P
The Reichsler family is still young. No telling what lies ahead. Looking forward to the next installment.
Not my usual territory... Now I'm intrigued.
I was thinking of the storyline of English King Athelstan and his adoption of Norwegian King Haarold's child, who later returned home and became Norway's King Haakon I (the Good)-- then again, I don't know the story well. I'm no historian, yikes. The Haakon story happens a bit earlier in the timeline of Western European medieval history right after the fall of the Roman Empire. Norway's Haakon IV is yet another interesting story (this Hakon IV was initially a Norwegian's king's illegitimate child) who later became quite famous as King (Haakon the Old). Your stories are reminding me of so much royal intrigue!
There is a Norwegian 2016 movie I haven't yet seen, based on the rescue of the illegitimate infant who later became Haakon the Old. (English title: The Last King; Original Norwegian title: Birkebeinerne).
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Reichsler Family: The Mad Queen
This is Zelda Reichsler, daughter of the licentious relationship between the King of Reichenau Oslocht and his sister, Jesmaine. It is known from the previous part that all of her siblings from the same parents died because they were born with various deformations and mental issues, and she was the only one who survived infancy and adolescence unscathed. Or did she?
Although Zelda's mental instability was not visible in her early years, she would soon suffer lots of mental breakdowns. The mental 🌺🌺🌺🌺 was slow and gradual, invisible by her early 20s and very dominant by her mid 30's.
The gradual increase of explosive outbursts of anger and violence worried many of her advisors in the court who believed that she is not capable of ruling the kingdom anymore.
She would sentence many people to death for the most silly reason. And she would enjoy watching them suffer.
She would ignore the plea of peasants for help, instead she enjoyed talking to her mirror endlessly
The court and the nobility realized how irreversible her situation was when she ordered to unearth her father's skeleton so she can sleep with his skull and "always seek his advice" as she used to say.
She did not even respect the tradition of having blue and yellow color representing her family, a custom established by her grandfather Giselbrecht.
She painted the throne room red, to remind her "the amount of blood that must be spilled" in order to punish the dissidents and those who object to her rule.
And the creepy way she decorated it only reflected how disturbed she was.
And yet despite the problems caused by her mental instability, she went on to reign for over 17 years unchallenged. Her father had stablised the economy of the kingdom achieving an economic surplus, political strength and overall happiness in the kingdom, making the life of his successor easier.
Overmore, the very costly feasts the Queen would arrange occasionally were glorious although slowly emptied the royal treasury.
But what triggered the court the most, was her apathy for matters of foreign affairs. Militarily speaking, Reichenau was clinging on to power, with multiple rebellions taking place and challenging the Reichenau authority.
Matters of foreign affairs were viewed as very important, for they defined the security of the kingdom and its people. The knights and the army officers began protesting about the Queen's indifference to those affairs. The Marshal of the army took notice of these problems, and decided to pay a visit to the Queen herself.
The Marshal of the army was not a random noble, however. His name was Otto Reichsler and was a half-brother of the Queen. Otto accused her of neglecting the kingdom and ruining the accomplishments of their father Oslocht, reminding her that he should be the King.
Before the Queen even had the chance to reply, Otto pulled out his sword...
...and thrusted it deep inside her half-sister's womb.
The mad Queen was dead by her very own half brother.
Reichenau was troubled by this action. Some were relieved for getting rid of the mad queen, others objected to the way Otto used to claim the throne, especially the religious clergy and parts of the nobility.
The assassination was about to usher an era of turmoil and political uncertainty in the kingdom of Reichenau, and with nobles and the priesthood objecting to the cruel way Otto used to become King, the civil war looked more possible than ever before.
Yeah, well I am not an expert on medieval European royal history either. I do know that Norway had its own empire (🌺🌺🌺🌺 the great??) and then there is Harold Haldrada who served the Byzantine army and later became King of Norway. Impressive.
You mentioned "Western Europe". Well, Reichsler's story does not take place in Western Europe....or does it? According to the lore of the sims, the sims medieval take place in a "new land". Then soon, the land of the sims (Sims nation, Simerica, Simsonia etc) was founded. Presumably, that resembles the story of the Europeans who discovered the "new land" and built kingdoms there (colonies actually), slowly leading up to the creation of the USA.
Your illustrations to capture the events are fun to see. I love the bubbles, so entertaining to read.
I can't even begin to guess what will happen next in the Kingdom. Scary times for the people!
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Thanks. Soon I will write new stories with the Reichsler family in the wild west in 1840's in Texas (they will be the descendants of the medieval Reichsler family :P
I want to transfer all of my stories to a blog so I don't litter the place here but I dont know which type of blog is the best for this thing (aka WordPress, or Tumblr, or...??)
So you do have a lot of choice now. Some simmers tend to like wordpress for tons of ez to install free design templates and scripts. Blogspot has those options too, and as fewer people used blogspot and moved to wordpress -- some of the wp templates had security problems if not updated regularly, so blogs were shot down by the evil empires out there. So that's little warning of online vulnerability no matter where you go when you use templates that are not kept updated.
Plenty of simmers use Wix or Weebly, Yahoo as well as Tumblr (and this is decades after my previous hobby, so I can't advise), but be aware of fantastic working scripts /templates that can break your security when they are abandoned by the author and no longer updated.
I suggest you try different services with a Testing-ID before rolling out your official site. A blog is a great idea bc this EA site tends to get Bull-in-a-China-Shop updates and break links, and they don't seem to give a button about it.. They've destroyed entire topics of useful tutorials by mowing them down with coding nukes that were not tested enuff.
Best wishes on your decisions. The test blogs can also let you mess with ideas without hurting your main site.
Maybe others have better experiences with the plethora of choices now.
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