Charlemagne ruled 1.1 million square kilometres with no salaried civil service, no standing army and almost no cash. Then, after 840, fleets of shallow-draught ships began rowing up the rivers without warning. Choose how each place is defended, run the raiding season, and watch the one number that decides the whole century: how many days it takes for help to arrive.
The realmc. 850
open, waits for the kingburhlocal lordboth
7grants and garrisons left to spend. Click a place on the map, or in the list below, to cycle its defence.
The same season is re-fought every time you change a defence, so you can see one decision change one outcome. “Next raiding season” draws fresh targets.
The king’s host arrives in
40 days to summon the levy, then roughly 28 km a day on the road.
A local lord arrives in
Mounted retainers already quartered within a day’s ride.