>>2178168
As the year 1350 opens, Paivio's rule has now settled into quite a comfortable state. Unlike the previous decade, the 1340s were primarily concerned with internal conflict across the Suomi rather than external wars. In particular, the emperor spent much of his time waging a war with his vassal king Karle of Volga Bulgaria, who had under his liege's nose usurped the Tsuudit family's ancestral duchy of Veps. A protracted war in the Empire's eastern reaches rectified this injustice, though initially frustrated by the deadly eastern winters. For the difficulty involved, Paivio exacted further punishment upon his vassal king by taking two of Volga Bulgaria's princesses as his concubines.
This has raised some concerns that Paivio may be given to some of the excesses that have plagued the Tsuudit line, but a merciful streak of prisoner releases after both this and the follow-up war to clean up the succession of Veps has hopefully assuaged those concerns.
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