The King

The King is a main character in Stronghold 2. He is featured as an AI character in Kingmaker mode.
==Appearance and personality==
The King is seen wearing a plated outfit, with an animal as a crest. He also wears the crown on his head and a purple cape. He uses a sword in battle.
The King is an aged man, who rules with experience and benevolence. He cares much for his renown and the welfare of his people. Gifted with close-to-ideal skills in politics, he prefers peaceful matters over outrageous warmongering. The King trusts his subordinates to his fullest, to whom he also gives trust and respect to the fullest.
==Biography==
The King is a benevolent ruler, who settled matters in the country with lots of effort. He manages to preserve peace for five years and for the duration of his rule, he does not manage to stabilize the country to its fullest, due to warlords with seeking their own path. The King lives in a troublesome period, where he has to take care of his own matters even in times, when his subordinates fail to complete their jobs.
===Path of Peace===
The King sends Matthew Steele to try and remedy some land in his country, when the three other lords that he has sent there - Sirs Edwin, William and Grey - fail to do so. He teaches Steele on chivalry and how to manage a castle, gradually giving more control to him as a Lord. Steele accomplishes various tasks the other three were incapable of completing, such as lighting a beacon to warn ships of the dangerous coastline and ridding the area of wolves, outlaws and disease.
Impressed with Steele's devotion, the King proceeds to have a sword-producing contest for his vassals. Only Edwin and Steele participate, as William is too busy courting Lady Seren while Grey is napping. Steele wins the contest, prompting Edwin to attack Gray's lands. Steele repels Edwin's attack, who is then arrested by William and sent to the King for punishment. He then tasks Steele with cleaning up Edwin's territory, which he successfully does. The King then informs Steele that as a result of his contributions, he intends to hold a massive feast and jousting tournament at his castle. Steele quickly sets up the jousting field and prepares the food with the assistance of the estates in his control before he could arrive for smooth ending.
It is then shown that the King decided to punish Edwin's treachery by making him his personal jester.
===Path of War===
The King is the approved ruler of England, who has mysteriously vanished.
The precursing events to this originate from Pascal Deveraux. Pascal arranges his assassination to the celebration of his fifth year of peace by poisoning his meal. He barely survives the attempt, which makes him to summon his loyal advisor, Sir William. William however quickly sets off to a skirmish against Olaf Grimtooth, who was hired by Pascal to cause turmoil in order to lure William away. Remaining in charge of the Royal Guard, the Hawk sells all the weapons of the military, rendering it unable to operate. The court quickly is put into disarray, from where the still ill King is carried away by constable John Briggs.
From safety, the King keeps up-to-date with current events and recovers in Lady Seren's abbey. He contacts Matthew Steele through letters. Knowing that Steele helps William, but William carelessly trusts allies, he warns Steele to carefully choose his own partners. As Steele defeats The Bull and later Olaf, he grows ever larger in honor. The King eventually lifts William's title of Royal Champion and mantles it to him. This leaves William disheartened and ever more determined in repairing their bond of trust.
The King's location is revealed to William and Steele by Lady Seren in Edwin's castle, after the siege of the Hawk and Lord Barclay. William and Seren join him a bit later. After the failed siege by Barclay and Pascal, Barclay parleys with Steele and tries to convince him to join his alliance for greater power.
===The Blue Path===
Steele refuses Barclay's offer, being loyal to the King and Sir William. Barclay and Pascal soon besiege the monastery where the King is hiding, but Steele manages to repel the assault. William soon arrives and the King tells him that he was never serious in labeling him a traitor, but Steele tells him that the populace thinks him a coward for his acts. The King quickly reminds Steele that being a king is not all about waging wars, but the act makes him slowly living again.
After killing off Pascal, the King buries Sir Grey at Seren's monastery before mending his bond with William. He then suggests a three-way siege on Barclay's castle. During the siege, the King's forces are attacked by the Bull, but they manage to kill him and repel his forces. With the combined might of the three forces, Barclay is subdued and surrenders. The King then parades him and Edwin in front of his entourage, laughing as they are pelted with vegetables.
===The Green Path===
Steele, disgusted by William's claims to fame and glory but achieving very little, decides to accept Barclay's offer so he could become king himself. Steele informs Barclay that Seren was hiding the King at her monastery, resulting in a siege and her death. However, they find that the King was moved elsewhere, but The Bishop, held at swordpoint, is forced to make a decree calling the King a heretic and that a new king was needed. Steele intervenes by stating that everyone deserved a fair share, forcing Barclay to add a new clause stating that whoever could kill the King would be the new king. Barclay sends Steele to handle his former master in the hopes that he would take too long, but to his dismay, Steele finishes off William in record time. With all of the King's loyal vassals slain and their forces decimated, he is only left with a small amount of soldiers.
Barclay finds the King's hideout and launches an attack, but Pascal and Steele also compete with him for the crown. The King defiantly fights off the traitors, but he is ultimately slain, claiming that all is lost in his dying breath.
==Castles and strategies==
The King is a very defensive lord. He prefers to build a very productive economy and build up a large force before attacking. His armies generally dish out little damage but prove fairly durable on the battlefield.
===Castles===
The King's castles are generally large with huge towers and thick walls. The castle has a large courtyard, where most buildings are built. Archers and pikemen guard gatehouses, towers and crucial wall sections. Some castle designs involve sally ports planted in the wall lines. Traps are not present among the defenses.
===Economy===
Better than anyone in the game, the King has a very productive economy covering all fields. He mines both iron and stone and produces every kind of food. He has pigs, vegetables and wine for the Lord's kitchen. He also places popularity boosters: a church with candles production and a traveling fair. Lots of workshops are also built to provide a steady supply of weapons.
===Unit compositions===
The King's armies are of medium-quality and slow to build. They fall short to crossbowmen, but can take quite some time to defeat.
*Defense: archer (guarding walls), swordsman (personal defense), pikeman (guarding spots)
*Harassment/estate force: pikeman, knight, catapult
*Offense: archer, spearman, pikeman, catapult, battering ram, burning cart, mantlet, small siege tower
===How to deal with===
====Defense====
The King does not normally siege castles (refer to trivia), but is very fond of sending small groups of knights and siege weaponry to harass players. Covering your territories with walls and using high damage ranged units should deal with any harassments.
====Offense====
The King is very fond of enclosed spaces regardless of keep size, frequently manning plenty of archers, swordsmen and pikemen around a decently-sized stone enclosure. Like many other lords, he only utilizes one layer of stone walls that make him very easy to overwhelm. He does not place traps often, making it a simple task of getting ladders on the wall to overwhelm his defense.
==Quotes==
For the quotes of , see: /Quotes
==Trivia==
*The King does not siege with the original castle designs, due to not recruiting spearmen. This can be solved by giving him poleturners. An AI Castle pack fixing the problem can be found here Heavengames mod.
==Images==
King.png|The King (Official wallpaper)
KingLord.jpg|The King in game (red)
The King marches.png|The King's army marching
Assembling the army.png|Assembling the army
Attacking!.png|The army attacking
Siege in his full glory.png|All siege engines in action
==References==
ru:Король (SH2)
Category:Stronghold 2 Characters