Actually the game's gotten pretty bad already. Even Knuddar's out of Nords.
Nords now have some more forts - apparently when Lord "makes the first move" and defects (without being indicted), he brings the forts with him, and if the King indicts, King keeps the fort. It is super-unfair that only other Lords get to take their fiefs with them if they "make the first move", not me!
Nords have too many forts and no one to defend them. Ragnar has pretty much no one else to make Marshall but me.
Now if I get this Diplomacy mod, would I be able to load Native saved games from it? I see that the Savedgames folder has separate subfolders for each mod, so this is hoping against hope.
I guess I'll just start the game afresh, and try to become king earlier. I thought in this particular attempt, let me make King Ragnar king of Calradia as a vassal / Marshall.
It might have really worked a lot better if my fief votes really go to the Lord I'm voting for. There are some fiefs I captured, asked not to be given the fief, and told Ragnar to give them to Bulba or Surdun, and Ragnar gave me (apparently because the nominations swap, and it worked like Bulba voted for me rather than the other way round). This would have soured Ragnar's relationship with other lords (including my chums) as they weren't getting enough fiefs.