The PoD in this tale is the marriage between “King” Jadwiga and Duke Jogaila. It doesn’t happen, and Poland’s armies cannot be brought to bear again the northern Crusaders. This is my first real scenario that I've developed, so feel more than free to levy any critiques you can think of.
The siege of Troki; a vast crusader army massed around the Lithuanian fortress city in the heart of Autumn, slowly wearing down the beleaguered defenders that were desperately holding the walls. Finally, before the last leaves of the trees were fallen, Troki fell, and with it, the last city of the pagan Duchy of Lithuania. Forcing Duke Jogaila step down, and dismantle his territories, Konrad Zöllner von Rothenstein, Grandmaster of the Teutonic order, was crowned duke of Samogitia in 1389. The rest of Lithuania was divided into various duchies swearing fealty to the order.
The armies, however, remained under the control of Konrad von Wallenrod, and eventually tension bubbling between Rothenstein and Wallenrod erupted in 1392, with both sides mustering armies along the Neris river. Though Rothenstein possessed a significant numerical advantage, Wallenrod scored a decisive victory at the Battle of Kaunas against the forces loyal to the grandmaster, securing control over the order, declaring himself the 24th grandmaster of the northern holy orders, as well as king of ‘Teutonia’, centralizing the lands that the orders possessed from their conquests into a Baltic kingdom and placing the seat of the imperial crown in Danzig.
Consolidating administrative control over the new kingdom, he married Sofia Dmitriyevna, princess of Moscow, to make a brother-in-law of Vasily I in a desperate bid for legitimacy, and to secure the east, but, him being distracted dealing with constant rebellion in Lithuania, his imperial court in Marienburg slowly stagnated and grew more corrupt, further growing more audacious as his control over them waned with time. He finally dealt a crushing blow to the organized resistance in Lithuania in 1393, and turned back to deal with the increasingly defiant elite.
Meanwhile, with Timur’s conquests in the east began to fully build up steam, putting more pressure on the already troubled Golden Horde. The Ruthenian princes blatantly ignored their tribute payments to them, and Muscovy, with Teutonic support, began to solidify their hold on the region with an invasion of Tver. Pope Boniface IX declared a successful end to the Lithuanian Crusade, and with the birth of his son, Wallenrod officially created a new royal line, declaring himself Konrad I. Recognized by Boniface IX and recognizing fully Karl IV’s lordship of the east, Teutonia fully became an official duchy of the Holy Roman Empire. Being one of the largest realms in the empire, they lent support to, and were granted an electorship by, Wenzel IV, who was officially crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1396 with Teutonic backing, after an odd period of being ‘King of the Romans’ and not officially emperor.
More to come later, hopefully.