Note: Most of this is just descriptions of the personalities of the characters based off their in-game traits, not anything found in the game itself. the actions are based off what I did with them. The game is mostly about war.
The History of the English Royal Family
The Kingdom of England starts off with King William the Conqueror, his three sons Rufus, Robert and Henry, and a daughter. . William wished to finish uniting the British Isles and conquering the kingdoms of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish. He also wished to secure his ancestral home of Normandy against France and wisely recognized that the French were a greater threat. William was an amazing tactician and strategist, who was feared by his enemies. His sons were incredibly loyal to him. He trained his son Rufus to be his successor from an early age and they shared a dream of a United Great Britain. The King departed England for France with Robert and Henry. He took the regions along the coast in order to secure England from coastal invasion. He made an alliance with the French and married one of their princesses to Rufus. William's daughter soon married Auncell of Berwick
Auncell was the second oldest man now in the family. The King trusted him absolutely due to his loyalty. Rufus left him in charge to govern England while he was off at war. Auncell never commanded during battle, but he became an excellent administrator. He supplied his brother in law with soldiers and the money to continue to fight. Auncell had homes built in London and Nottingham for himself as he travelled between the two. He was quite content with his lot in life, since he held much of the political power in the nation while everyone else was away. He died about 10 years after William.
Crown Prince Rufus, heir to the English throne, spent most of his life uniting Britain. He felt that he lived in his father's shadow for most of his life. he was more of an extension of his father's will then his own person. He was the one who declared war on The Scottish after conquering Wales. He simply did not share his father's aptitude for battle, and always lost a significant percentage of his forces and needed time to recover after every battle. While he managed to take the Scottish Capital of Edinburgh, he had to be saved by his father when his army was under siege. Rufus already had a low self esteem, and that was the final straw. When his father died of old age during the Scottish campaign, the newly crowned King devoted all his attention to his fathers dream. He made the ultimate sacrifice and died in battle fighting the Scottish King and his heir to the death, only 4 years after his fathers death. While his army managed to win the battle without him, it left the newly conquered Scottish territory without a governor, as Rufus' oldest son, George, was still too young to take his fathers place. His army was disorganized but remained loyal, and conquered Ireland in his honour.
This left the Kingdom in an awkward spot. At the time of Rufus' death, the Heir apparent was his next oldest brother Robert. Unfortunately, William had left Rob in charge of a crusading army before he left for Scotland. Thus, Robert was stuck in Central Germany trying to reach the crusades when he was crowned King. He was forced to abandon the crusade and make his way back. This took years, leaving the kingdom with only Auncell and Henry. Henry took advantage of the situation, and "adopted" two of his younger friends, Paul and Charles, and had Morcar and Leonard marry his daughters. He sent Morcar to govern Scotland and Leonard to Wales. Before he left for the rich coastal town of Rennes to govern in peace, his brother returned from his crusade to Caen. For a few short years, they ruled together, with Henry acting as his trustworthy advisor.
Henry was unquestionably loyal to his brother and extremely religious. He was a drunk and a gambler. although, as a governor he was fair and just. Due to his poor speech giving skills, he knew he could never be as popular as his brother and would never be king. He considered himself better than most people, and managed to convince his brother to name his adopted son Paul as heir to the throne. He thought he would be able to manipulate Paul, despite the younger man's greater ability to command. Afterwards, he spent the rest of his life living in luxury as the governor of Rennes, one of the richest trading cities in English possession.
While his brother played a game of thrones, Robert was happiest leading an army and had no confidence outside of battle. He was never trained to be a king, and always felt uncomfortable doing it. He was terrible at diplomacy, managing to get the Spanish to declare war on him for no real reason. When the Pope called another crusade a few years after he returned from his failed one, Robert jumped on the chance. He made Henry build a him a fleet to take him to Tunis. Meanwhile, Paul prepared an army for invading the Spanish. Robert then departed English lands, never to return. He was chivalrous for most of his life, and gained a reputation as a skilled and chivalrous general on the battlefield. Unfortunately, his personal life was horrible. His wife cheated on him, at first secretly and then openly while he was on crusade. He lost all authority as King. His wife's betrayal turned him into a cruel and austere man. He hired assassins to kill foreign enemies and soon became known as King Robert the Killer. In an attempt to please the French he gave his crusading spoils to them. His ineptness led his brother to break the alliance with the French and invade them. While they quickly conquered Northern France, this destroyed the English reputation and led to Venice declaring war. Robert, along with his only son and his two sons-in-law were forced to invade Marseilles, one of the richest French trading cities. he was forced to defend it for years before he could attempt to travel back to English controlled lands. He died before he saw his beloved kingdom again. Robert was a tragic figure, who had a crown he had never wanted forced upon his head, and he saw himself excommunicated from the church he loved so much because of his brothers actions. He never truly got what he wanted.
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