I've noticed that lords who seem to be honourable and who thus are not just all about getting their own fiefs have a high opinion of me, which gets higher the more honourable I get. Now, any lord who drops down to the 'enemy' status is out. I've already had someone defect, taking their extensive holdings (which I gave them in a bid to keep them happy) with them.

Too many lords like that and giving out land becomes a net loss in popularity. So many of them are greedy bastards who kvetch whenever I give a fief to someone who isn't them. As a result of the recent war, now died down, there's quite a few formerly Nord or Vaegir landless lords kicking around.Lords are a pain. So I let lords go - I don't need the money, and I'm not worried about them coming back at me if they don't have an army at their back anymore. And I also noticed that releasing them after battle when I've captured them shoots my honour to the moon. I realized that nobles have different (and consistent) personalities, and they seem to respond largely to honour. And 8 towns, down from my previous high of 9, is still pretty solid. It cost me a couple towns, but I've got a solid, unified territory, which will be easier to defend, and I won't be fighting on as many fronts with those jokers out of the game. Just me, the Rodoks, the Sultanate and the Khanate left, and the Khanate's only at three towns. As a result, the Vaegirs and Nords have accompanied Swadia in exiting the game. There was a point where pretty much everyone was at war with me, so I focused on taking the minor players out first. My country of New Calradia now stretches over 8 of the 22 major towns. Shouldn't be long until all of Caladria is in my grasp. Anyways, only the Khanate and the Sultanate left, and they've got a lowly six towns between the two of them (vs my sixteen).

Despite being able to have a couple hundred troops in his warband (and his being my father-in-law), he may not have a future in my kingdom, if he can't be a team player when it comes to giving out fiefs. Unfortunately, he's just the kind of jerk vassal I avoid, and while he had loyalty in the high eighties to start, he's now down to the mid-forties. Well, he's on my team, now - I managed to convince him to defect - and he brought three castles with him! That's a nice boost. Along the way, I met my father-in-law, formerly with the Sultanate, but apparently he was a Rhodok. As a result, all six towns and all their castles are now in my hands. My Marshall did a good job keeping things safe, and they collectively conquered two towns and a castle (while I took care of everything else). My vassals seem much more competent since I restructured them and kicked out everyone who isn't honourable. They were the largest faction, but it did not take long for them to be brought low. I spent a chunk of time building up my troops and, when I was done with that, declared war on the Rhodoks.

Mount and blade warband cattle herd