As a tribute to his grandmother, a Chinese artist and pyrotechnic expert created this stairway to Heaven. Stunning.
https://youtu.be/vRJc26SV-Mw?feature=shared

House Renart: \"As Clever as a Fox\"

Duke Otger 'the Brute' of Lausitz

It's him, John Crusader-Kings-3
Otger I Renart (6 March 1040 - 28 February 1101) was the count of Spreewall and the Duke of Lausitz, and the founder of the Renart dynasty. A dastardly count, he pursued any way to gain power in the lands of the Saxons.
Otger was known to be a stubborn and yet brave man, with a vengeful streak. This was due to the fact that his brother was killed by Jakob Barenburg of Lubsko when he was a mere infant. Otger grew up under the tutelage of his mother, becoming a well read warrior in his own right.
At the age of 16, he fell in love with Hersent Louve, a minor noble lady within his court, and they married. They would have a daughter who would eventually marry Edgar Wessex. For a while, peace remained in Lausitz, but Otger, the wily fox, would see to it that he would move things to get revenge on Jakob Barenburg.
15 September, 1066, Otger went to war with the County of Wittenberg, held by Count Thimo, to press a claim over the castle and lands there. He would defeat Count Thimo at the Battle of Wittenberg in 21 February of 1067, and in May became the ruler of Wittenburg.
On 28 July 1067, his eldest son Otger was born. In September, Count Jakob Barenburg would be poisoned on the 15th of December, 1067, and for many generations his death was seen as mysterious. Recent historical opinion, however, blames Otger I for the death.
The following year, Otger went to war with Jakob Barenburg’s daughter, Brigida, who was seeing instability in her realm following the untimely death with her father. Otger’s forces defeated Brigida at the Battle of Lubsko, but two years of siege meant minor skirmishes, and Otger would only gain victory in August of 1070 AD.
Otger was a participant in defending the realm Duke Theoderic of Angria who was fighting off his own counts in 1076. Otger would lose the battle of Lüneburg against Countess Hedwig of Göttingen that year, but Duke Theoderic successfully put down his vassals. It was around that time that Otger was being called “the Brute” by many of his vassals for his heavy handed way of doing things, as well as his strong physique. The nickname would stick.
Another war for the Count of Gorlitz in 1077-1078 led Otger to acquiring another castle. Him and his knights would defeat the count outside of Gorlitz and overtook the fortress. With many of the castles and lands under his grasp, Otger began to plot to become the duke of Lausitz.
Duke Konrad of Lausitz was relatively young when he came to the throne. In a position of weakness, Otger declared himself the rightful duke of the land of Lausitz. The armies of Count Otger moved towards Juterborg in the winter of 1084. The young Duke Konrad did not give up his throne so easily. Otger commanded the armies, backed by the Duke of Carinthia and the Duke of Angria, whom he created alliance with.
Otger commanded and won the battle of Görlitz against Count Konrad of Jüterbog on the 31st of July, 1084. He was actually outnumbered during this fight in a battle of 1000 against 1500. He used the positioning of the hills outside of the city to his advantage. Konrad would be captured later by the Duke of Carinthia in August of 1085, and would surrender. Otger would be declared the Duke of Lausitz.
Not even a year later, Konrad rebelled against Otger, seeking to reclaim his power as Duke. The two had small engagements in 1086, most notably the Battle of Gommern in January of 1087. Otger pursued the fleeing Konrad into the spring and would capture him at the Battle of Gorlitz. There, Konrad would be imprisoned, and had his lands revoked.
On the 25th of October, 1090, Duke Otger came to the aid of his ally King William II ‘the Red’ of England after King Philippe of France went to reclaim Normandy. This would see a defeat for Otger and William the Red. Normandy fell back into French control.
In 1091, Otger became the ruler of the Duchy of Istria after it’s previous Duke was excommunicated. The title was given to him by Emperor Heinrich V. A similar situation happened in 1096 with the Duchy of Hesse, which was given to Otger as well.
13 March, 1098, Otger came to Duke Hendrik's defense against Duca Tribale Aleardo's dethronement war. Duke Hendrik would manage to fend of Aleardo’s forces by himself, however, so Otger’s participation was not needed.
The last three years of Otger’s reign was relatively peaceful. He hosted a grand wedding for his son Christopher who married into Austria’s Babenburg family. Otger would pass away on the 28th of February, 1101, from old age. His primary title of Lausitz would pass onto his son Otger, while the Duchy of Istria went to his son Ludwig and Hesse went to his son Christopher.

King Otger of Poland

Guy had a massive drinking problem and no sons.
King Otger (July 28, 1067 - July 6th, 1124) was Duke of Lausitz in 1101, and the King of Poland from 1116, until his death in 1124.
In life, Otger was a calm, humble, and zealous man whose only ambition in life was, at first, to rule the Duchy of Lausitz relatively peacefully. Unlike his vengeful father, Otger made a point to not make many enemies. In fact, he was quite good with making friends and even allies in clutch.
He was born on July 28th, 1067 to his father Count Otger and his mother Countess Hersent. He was their second child, and the oldest of his brothers. His upbringing was relatively quiet, with his father Otger having a hands-on approach to his education.
In 1083, he would marry a minor noble from Poland, named Olga. She would, however, die in childbirth with his firstborn daughter Geilana in 1087. This would lead Otger to grow distant with his eldest daughter, who he would eventually disinherit. This was also the point when Otger would begin his horrible habit of alcoholism to cope with his misery. The same year, he made a political alliance with Duchess Gertrude, another minor noble, from Austria.
In 1101, Otger would ascend to the throne of Lausitz (as Otger II) while his brothers became dukes of Istria and Hesse. He would ally with them to secure their places as the dukes over those lands. He would travel on pilgrimage in 1104 as a sign of his piety. He arrived in Colonge on the 25th of April where he dedicated his life to ruling in the Christian ways.
During this, King Casimir of Poland was excommunicated by the Pope for his life of sin. A massive civil war overtook the Polish countryside, dragging German dukes into the conflict. Polish soldiers would raid the Duchy of Lausitz while Otger II was on his pilgrimage. When he returned, he was furious to see what had happened to his lands. He appealed to Pope Urbanus II in hopes that he could get compensation to rebuild some of his lands.
Instead, Pope Urbanus II saw the pious character of Otger, and, knowing he was bordering the Polish lands, offered him the opportunity to step in during the civil war as an intercessor to bring peace and dispose of King Casimir. Otger at first refused this role, believing it was not his place. However, as the civil war dragged on, more and more of Poland grew into turmoil. According to The Renalt Chronicle Otger “prayed to God for resolution” in Poland in 1114, but nothing came.
In the same year, Queen Gertrude would die in her sleep. Otger had been struggling to get a male heir all of his life. Stricken with the grief of his wife dying, and the continuous raids in his lands, Otger became flagellant in order to cope with the stress. Otger believed he was punished by God for his reluctance to act in Poland. Thus, in his zealous nature, he finally rallied his small forces and rode into the southern mountains of Silesia in Janary of 1115, to do the “right” thing.
Quick, while he's distracted, invade him!
King Casimir was far too distracted by an invasion to the east of him by the Russians to bother with the small forces of Duke Otger that was reported to him. He was busy fighting his brother Witosz Piast for the throne as well. Otger joined Richard Babenburg, Duke of Austria, in Silesia and then marched north into Greater Poland. Many of the castles were occupied by Czibor Piast’s soldiers and they quickly fell to Otger and Richard’s forces as they besieged them.
The armies of Witosz were defeated by Casimir in the spring of 1116, where he was imprisoned by his brother. Casimir marched back west towards the armies of Otger and Richard who were driving way the rest of the rebel forces. The rebels disbanded, which gave Otger the opportunity to take further Silesian castles. Eventually, come the late summer of 1116, Duke Otger and King Casimir met each other at Katowice.
The Battle of Katowice was a long engagement, taking several weeks in the early fall of the year. Otger was reported to have an army of 1500 men, while Casimir had an army of 1700 men. It was believed that, at first, Casimir with his slight numerical advantage would win. However, the Duke of Austria came from the south later into the engagement and swayed the tide. Casimir would flee the battle, defeated.
Duke Austria followed him further east to Krakow and laid siege to the city. The Saxon forces of Otger would break through the city gates, storm it, and captured King Casimir. The bishop of the city oversaw the transfer of the crown to Duke Otger.
Thus, on the 16th of December, 1116, Duke Otger Renart would be crowned King of Poland. During the coronation ceremony, he would meet the beautiful Weslikan of Livonia, to become his third wife.
It would not be long, however, until the peace would be abrupt. The nobles of Poland were not fond of a new Saxon king over their lands. They rebelled against King Otger in November of 1117, trying to place Duke Witosz Piast onto the throne. The irony was that Witosz was not in favor of this, as he became good friends with Otger and supported his kingship.
Two years of rebellion would eventually see the rebels imprisoned by King Otger in December of 1119, who had eventually begun to be led by the former King Casimir again. Casimir and the disloyal vassals had their lands stripped from them and were executed for their rebellion.
Duchess Bożena of Mazovia began a war of liberation in 1121, during the beginning of the First Crusade. This would only lead to a white peace two years later in 1123, however.
Unfortunately for Otger, his life of drinking would eventually catch up to him. In 1124, as his forces were mustering in preparation for the First Crusade, he died of liver failure in his tent. Otger had failed to have a son with Queen Weslikan, and therefore, the realm and his duchies were split between his four daughters: Imma, Bia, Beatrix, and Wienke.
Imma Renalt would succeed him to the throne in 1124, though her reign would not prove a long one…

Queen Imma of Poland

Imma and her ragtag younger sisters got all their dad's lands. Wouldn't fare as they, nor I, expected it.
Imma Renart (August 17, 1090 - August 7, 1124) was Queen of Poland from July 6th of 1124 to August 7th of 1124. She would be queen only for 32 days. Her reign is often forgotten in many histories, as it was overshadowed by her son Oldrik.
Imma Renart was an ambitious and just woman, with much compassion. She was also known for her natural beauty thanks to her mother Gertrude. She inherited much of her father’s attitude on ruling, and desired to bring peace to Poland when she became queen. With the partitioning of her father’s many duchies, she received Greater Poland while her sisters gained Lausitz and the Silesian lands.
When she ascended the throne, her younger sister Bia was staging a rebellion to become Queen of Poland herself. Imma at the time was pregnant and was in a period of great stress. According to the Renartnomicron, she was heart-stricken when her spymaster suggested killing her sister. From the stress of the rising rebellion, her pregnancy, her weakened heart (due to her drinking habits), and the spymaster’s suggestion, she suddenly died from a heart attack on August 7th, 1124. The death was completely unexpected.
Her only son, Oldrik, who was 14 at the time, was off hunting when the news of his mother’s death came. He was stricken with grief. But little time was left for him, as he would now have to be king…

King Oldrik 'the Worthy' of Poland and Pomerania

I didn't expect to play YOU so early!
Oldrik Renart (June 21, 1110 - July 23 1177) became King of Poland on August 7th, 1124 after the sudden death of his mother. An intelligent and handsome man, he is looked back as a good king to the Polish people to this day, and the people of Poland were happy during his rule. He was also known for being a pious king, converting the pagans of Pomerania to the Christian faith. This was commemorated with the building of a great cathedral in Garwolin, which was dedicated in his honor. Another part of his reign was the Conversion of Pomerania, in which he crusaded against the northern pagans.
Oldrick was also known for many of his building projects, particularly within Krakow and Warsaw. Before his rule, Poland was seen as a backwards land to the western Europeans, as it was incredibly undeveloped, its people lived in poverty, and sickness would avail across it. Thanks to Oldrik, many hospices, churches, and castles were built which brought great wealth and prosperity to the realm.
In particular, Oldrik noticed how strategic the lands of Warsaw were. At first it was merely a small village. However, during his reign, he built a mighty castle there and it would soon develop into a strategic city.
On the 7th of August of 1124, Oldrick, then 14 years old, was off hunting when his pregnant mother died of a sudden heart attack, to the shock of everyone in the court. The physicians tried to revive her, but to no avail. The young boy was crowned the King of Poland when he returned to Krakow the same week, though he was frightened of what had just happened. Talks of rebellion stirred within the nobles, particularly his aunt Bia, who was seeking to claim the throne of Poland for herself.
Which is why Oldrik took a strategic gamble and married his aunt Bia, the duchess of Lausitz, in 1126 when he became a man. She would bear a majority of his children, and the marriage was seen as happy, though they were about 6 years apart in age. However, this would prove an important alliance, as the former friend of King Otger, Prince Witosz Piast, would betray the family and sought to take the throne of Poland for himself.
November 8th of that year Prince Witosz staged his rebellion against the young Oldrik Renart. Historians view this as the “last hurrah” for the House of Piast. Witosz had the support of the remaining Polish nobility while Oldrik was supported by the loyal German counts under his rule in northern Germany.
Witosz was reported to have claimed the former King Otger was a “temporary” monarch set by the Pope, but that it was proper time for the Piasts to take over the throne. King Oldrik disputed this, asserting that it was the will of God, and his divine task, to rule the Polish people. Oldrik took to learning the Polish tongue and dressing himself in traditional Polish noble clothing to assert his place to the people of his realm.
The civil war started by Witosz Piast lasted two years, but he saw his end at the fields outside of Warsaw when he would be captured on the 12th of February, 1128, by Oldrik’s army. The Treaty of Warsaw had Witosz give up his claims to the throne of Poland. Oldrik traveled to meet the prince a few days later. Oldrik, who had heard Witosz slander the name of his grandfather and murder one of his kinsmen, reportedly spoke only a few words to his grandfather’s former “friend.” Witosz would be executed by beheading for his treachery, thus ending the Piast dynasty’s rule over Poland for good.
When he rode toward the village of Warsaw with his host, he was greeted by the peasantry who declared him “worthy of the crown of Poland” and applauded him. Thus he gained his historical moniker. King Oldrik from then on took interest in the village, and ordered a castle built on the field of which Witosz was defeated.
In the following years, Oldrik would fall in love with his step-grandmother Weslikan, and would find himself having a bastard son named Ulinniks with her in 1131. He hid the existence of this boy for years until he became a court chronicler. He was responsible for the additions of the reign of Oldrik in the Renaltnomicron. He would have another son, Glande, with her, to which he also hid his existence.
He also began to love Queen Bia, his wife, and had many children with her during this time. Bia would also seduce her husband and would often control how he ruled, gaining her the moniker “the Enchantress” for her beauty and cunning.
In 1137, the duke of Moravia, Wlost Dunin, murdered Oldrik’s daughter Bia. He would be excommunicated for this act, and then was imprisoned. His titles were taken and he was sent into exile, never to be seen again. King Oldrik would take special care of the town of Warsaw, which he continued to develop. In the same year, Oldrik went to war with Duke Kasper II of Nordmark (a notable pagan prince in Pomerania) to reclaim the duchy of Greater Poland. The war went on until 1140, where Duke Kasper would be defeated, and his lands taken.
Now King Oldrik, though he was not righteous in his acts of adultery, he still believed himself to be a “King David” of his day. He believed he was a man after God’s own heart. He sought to destroy the pagans to his north, who had a great idol in Arkona and worshiped there. This would begin what was known as the Christianization of Pomerania, who allied with the Teutonic Knights who were gifted land in Prussia.
29 November, 1149 was the day that King Oldrik moved against Duke Kasper II of Nordmark once again, this time with the backing of the Teutonic Knights. The war would end on the 5th of May, 1153 with Kasper seeing defeat and dethronement, losing the Duchy of Veletia and being forced to convert, and then was exiled. King Oldrik declared himself King of the Pomeranians, and in an act of change, he traveled to Arkona, to the island of Rana, and ordered the idol to Svetovit torn down.
Based.
In the spring of the next year, 1154, Countess Marketa of Pomerania was invaded by the Teutonic knights and King Oldrik, and was forced to convert and submit herself to the rule of King Oldrik.
Not every pagan ruler took kindly to the destruction of the idol at Rana. Count Zbigniew of Pomerania had Queen Bia murdered in October of 1155 as an act of defiance, and declared it was for the glory of Svetovit. He then openly rebelled with the other pagan counts in November, seeking to dethrone Oldrik as King of Pomerania. Once again the Teutonic Knights came to the aid of Oldrik, and together the Polish forces and Teutons were enamored in a religious war for the fate of the pagans.
King Oldrik riding in battle against the remaining pagan counts.
The war lasted until January of 1158. Zbigniew would be captured for his treachery against the queen in the county of Radom by the Teutonic knights. Zbigniew would be executed for the murder of Queen Bia, and his lands revoked. The Pomeranian lands were granted to Oldrik’s eldest son, Miesko, who was thought to be in line for being king.
In 1159, King Oldrik joined the crusade against Zaphoriza against the Tengrist pagans. He would lose the Battle of Tor, (which saw him critically injured and nearly die, though he pulled through), though it would ultimately be a victory for the crusaders, and Oldrik’s son in law, Pawel Renalt, would be made the crusader king over the lands.
The 9th May, 1166, marked the last of the pagans of Pomerania defeated, Count Bedrich, of Santok. The polish armies raided Santok and would capture Count Bedrich, who would be converted to Christianity and forced to submit to the authority of King Oldrik that following August. Legend has it that the Cathedral of Garwolin’s final stone was laid on the day Count Bedrich converted, leading to the end of Slavic paganism in the Baltics and Poland.
Legends arose about the cathedral, and Oldrik’s apparent nature in being a holy warrior against the northern pagans. Stories arose about him committing miracles against the pagans. As the chronicler Ulliniks wrote of the legend: “Oldrik devoted himself to God and acted entirely in his will. Every Christian wandered the land with the name ‘Oldrik’ on their lips, telling tales of constant holy happenings in his name. Here it is written in Krakow, on the 20th of August in the Year of our Lord 1173.”
He continued. “The roads of the faithful were accosted by the godless, and with a blessed blade Oldrik did chase them away. But yet wild beasts and serpents would still wander onto the path and do injury to the faithful, so Oldrik did pull out his trumpet and charm God’s creations out the lands.”
“King Oldrik was visited by God who directly spoke to him about the nature of Creation and the beauty of finite life. He emerged from this legendary confrontation a changed man, at peace with the fleeting nature of life and the peace of heaven.”
In some sense, this was true. Oldrik would seize his adulterous ways after the defeat of the pagans, seeking a pious life. In his elder years, he commissioned the building of a palace in Krakow and continued to develop Warsaw, eventually seeing it become an important, strategic city in the wake of further wars to come. It would also mark the end of the Piasts, and cement the rule of the Renart dynasty as the rulers of Poland.
On the 23rd of July, 1177, King Oldrik would die in his sleep, his old age finally getting to him. In his will, he marked his third eldest son, Wielslaw, to be his heir, instead of his oldest son Miesko. To Miesko instead he was given the Kingdom of Pomerania to rule. Thus the lands would be partitioned.
Thus far, House Renart has control over the Kingdoms of Poland, Pomerania, and Zaphoriza.
Should we continue this save and see what other shenanigans I get into as Poland? Didn't expect to get into Poland but here I am...