Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)

After my experiments with the Capets to get a grip on the new mechanics, I decided to do a Jerusalem game with Godfrey of Bouillon as my starting point. I noticed that he doesn't get the Crusader King trait, but he is a crusader. However in nearby Antioch, Prince Bohemond (who also gets a nifty Titular title so he can BE a Prince while actually being a King rank) has that Crusader King trait.

But no matter, I did use tooltips to give Godfrey 35,000 gold since at the end of crusades in game the reigning king that gets the Kingdom gets the leftover money from the warchest, I figured that amount would give me a good start since sure enough, both branches of Islam decide to get their Jihads on… But the Pope sent a Crusade to take Rum ruled Anatolia that I pledged troops to without realizing what I did until the war started. But for some reason the Sunnis decided to fend off the Anatolia Crusade rather than fight me, so I was able to fight off the Shia.

Once that was done the crusade was still active AND the Sunnis were really holding their own, so I hired a bunch of mercs to augment my numbers and sent them to fight both wars simultaneously in Anatolia. I was able to turn the Crusade around AND won against the Jihad.

Then with both Islamic powers weakened, and still having some cash I decided to keep the mercs and started Holy Waring the crap out of the Islamic petty kingdoms around me. Leaving me with just around 800 gold, though I did use some of the money for improvements.

However Godfrey managed to die at age 48 of natural causes, having managed to father two daughters and a son, but during his reign his negative traits were erased and he picked up a couple virtues, leading him to become the first Saint made in the game.


The second King of Jerusalem is Eudes (or Otto in English), his mother had visions from angels that her son would be destined for greatness, he was born with the Strong trait and somehow picked up the Genius trait, his long reign has seen Jerusalem expand to take Syria, tear apart Shia Egypt, defeat a second Shia Jihad, defend Anatolia from a Sunni Jihad, win the Third Crusade against the resurgent Seljuk Empire, and make a Catholic Kingdom of Arabia ruled by Eudes eldest daughter, Sophie.

And for some reason the Knights Hospitaller were already vassals of Jerusalem and they managed to acquire the entire island of Sardinia as a base, and one of my vassals inherited Toulouse, bringing that duchy under the rule of Jerusalem.

Once I've finished taking Egypt I should have the right lands to make the Empire of Outremer, I think that's how Eudes reign should end, with him as Emperor.

His current heir is his only son, Prince Charles, who is married to a Byzantine Princess... Who I realized had the ugly trait AFTER they got married, so I'm thinking of killing her and getting Charles a new wife... But if Charles doesn't have heirs then Jerusalem would be inherited by Sophie of Arabia and she's had a matrilineal marriage and two sons so it wouldn't be a huge loss...
 
HOLY JESUS, JUST WHAT ARE THESE CHILDREN CRUSADES!?

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Well Catholicism is all but dead. After decades of continual war with the Umayyads, including a Crusade that represented the last chance to save Catholic Europe being cancelled after the Pope who called it died, Francia has been taken over by a Islamic coup, leading to it fracturing into numerous tiny duchies who I'm now trying to vassalise/inherit, Lombardy is a tiny state in Latium and the only major Christian States left is Brythionniad (myself), Pictland (my heir is married to their Queen) and the Byzantines (reduced to a greater Greece and with my King's nice on the throne). Everyone else has either fallen to the Muslims or converted to Tengri or Germanic faiths (including the two rump Saxon Petty Kingdoms still left in Wessex and Kent).

Soon Brythonniad will be the last bastion of Christianity, ruling the British Isles and several French territories (though probably not for much longer on the latter) and I've never been more thankful that Great Britain is an island.

Its not that bad, only a few CoA are black.

In other news, since losing the crusade, the Umayyads have fractured and four sultanates have declared independence.

Having salvaged my Brythonniad run with some jiggling of inheritance laws, it is now becoming the best game I've played.

Pictures!
 
Apparently the Holy Roman Antipope prevents the empire from joining crusades.

I guess the only option is to destroy the HRE.

Speaking of the HRE...

I had to start a new game due to my installation of a mod that removes India (since I run CK2 on a toaster, it's necessary), as the House of Grimaldi in Genoa. How can I seize Corsica, as in OTL, without having the imperial doomstacks at the gates of Genoa? I'm thinking about sowing dissent between the emperor and his vassals, in order to cause a revolt against his rule that would make the job easier for me.
 
If I recall correctly, don't their troops have tons of maluses such that it really is all in the numbers.

Oops, missed the troop counts. That's... a lot of children. Though probably also some adult hanger-ons.

Regardless, this guy is now King of Jerusalem! I supported him, because I was roleplaying an old zealot King of Sicily, and now he's married to my niece and has an awesome bloodline. Crazier yet, he kept ALL of those troops!
 
HOLY JESUS, JUST WHAT ARE THESE CHILDREN CRUSADES!?

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They are highly unlikely to succeed... but if they do, there's a bloodline in it for the leader!
If I recall correctly, don't their troops have tons of maluses such that it really is all in the numbers.
Oops, missed the troop counts. That's... a lot of children. Though probably also some adult hanger-ons.
In my Brythonniad run the Children's Crusade not only succeeded but also expanded considerably.

Before being swallowed by the Abbasids when after their first king died.
Pictures!
I can't do it for the earlier ones, but I'll see if I can get one for the current situation of the Empire of Prydain.
 
Do the pagan Canarians have a unique namelist? They're Berber culture, but they have seemingly unique names, and none of the normal Abrahamic-influenced names show up.
I haven't noticed that. Even by the start of 769, the leader of Canaries is named Muktar ("chosen" in Arabic). It's just that Berbers have A LOT of names.
 
Continued my current Shattered World Zunist game.

Last time we left off, Shahou Zuhaid had just been elected by the Elders to succeed his elder sister Shahzadi as the fourth Dastur. This was rather worrying as Shahou really REALLY sucked in terms of stats. Still, Shahou ended up doing a rather okayish job as Dastur... He even managd to expand the realm a bit by taking Hormuz from the Arabs who had conquered it years prior. Most of the expansion was done by Shahou's vassals though. For his part, the Dastur mostly had to deal with internal politics and to crush religious revolts. This also allowed me to build a lot buildlings in my desmene, as well as to recruit my first retinues thanks to all the gold I was accumulating.

Shahou ruled for fifteen years... before someone put a snake in his bed, resulting in his death.

Enter Shahou's son and successor... Mursalin the Great, the fifth Dastur. He doesn't have much for himself but he's a great warrior and that's more than enough. He also ascended the throne at the tender age of 18 and since then, he's managed his rule pretty well. I had to downgrad my Centralization level though as I ended up exceeding my vassal limit at one point, making decentralization a necessity.

Mursalin had more than one occasion to prove how great a warrior he was though. During his reign, I launched two Holy Wars against Messalian rulers to acquire all the lands in the Duchy of Baghdad... Which gave me enough provinces to see Mursalin be proclaimed as the first Shahansha of the Persian Empire. It's also during those war that Mursalin earned his nickname of "The Great". Mursalin also became the first Persian Emperor one week before his 26th birthday, so it's really not bad.

Expansion has slowed down a bit though. My vassals are still doing a good job at expanding the realm for me though, but Mursalin now gets Threat pretty easily. The prudent player in me thus tends to sit things out until threat decreases. I don't mind as it allows me to focus on internal matters, thus building, crowd controlling factions and assembling armies. Plus, it's not like joining the Keepers of the Flame doesn't provide entertainment in the form of fight or the occassionnal looting of a city.

Currently a bit worried about the succession though. The Elders are heavily divided and seem to have trouble following their Dastur's wishes no matter how much gold he pours on them. None of the candidates proposed by Mursalin have proven to be accepted so far aside from the first, which was his uncle Wamiq... But after Wamiq's death, all the others faced trouble. Currently, Shahou's eldest daughter Yasmoon is considered his heiress but only because the Elders are heavily divided on the succession. Shahou's also not really been lucky in regards to procreation as he was the father of five daughters before his first (and only so far) son was born. Hopefully little Soban will turn out to be a fine heir, and that'll solve the problem.

That leaves me with my current goals. When I started this game, I had two in mind: reform Zunism and form the Persian Empire. Both are accomplished. Which means it's time to set new goals for the future...

Technically, I'm still missing a few counties in the de-jure Persian Empire. So my primary objective will be to finish the conquest of Persia.
Then there is the matter of internal reforms. Eldership is pretty good as a succession law and easy to manage but I'll feel more at ease when I will have unlocked Primogeniture. Sadly, this will take a bit of time.
Finally, though I own four of my holy sites, I'm technically still missing one in the form of Heliopolis. Which probably means I'll try targeting Egypt at one point. There are a few minor rulers in the way though.
After all that... Well, I guess what I can only describe as "border cleaning" is in order. My Empire isn't that ugly but their are still a few independant enclaves. And I also tend to consider that I don't really own a title until I rule everything that's in it de-jure.

I should also note that my Empire is still technically tolerant... Though it's not really my doing since I'm dogmatic. But only the core of the Empire as really adopted the Church of Zun: most of the inhabitants are still following one of the Zoroastrian denominations, and I also have sizeable minorities: Messalians in Iraq and Buddhist and Hindus in Punjab.
It's a bit the same in terms of culture: only the ruling elites and the core of the Empire are Afghans. The rest is mostly Persians, Baloch and Sogdians, with also a few Punjabi and Levantine thrown into the mix.

In regards to the Outside world:
  • Zuhaid Persia has two dangerous neighbors. One is the Mizrid (I think) Kingdom to the South, that pretty much owns all of Arabia. The other is the Kingdom of Armenia... Which is ruled by a Jain. It's a force to reckon with though and it looks on his way to build a Jain Byzantine Empire (not bad for Pacifists...). It currently faces a strong rival in the Orthodox King of both Greece and Thrace, but the Armenians have more troops. Also don't ask me how Armenia turned Jain: I have no fucking idea, I just now the ruling dynasty's been around since the days of The Great Tiger (who's been dead for 80 years)
  • Catholicism has unlocked its Crusading ability (which also gave unlocked Great Holy Wars for me a few months later). There is a bit of a religious turmoil, so the first Crusade ended up targetting Lombardy/Italy. More precisely it targeted the Piedmont area. The Crusade succeeded and resulted in a female relative of the King of the Asturias claiming the throne of Italy. She's been expanding her small kingdom a bit but not all is well given that she's been excommunicated recently...
 
I've been enjoying my current Holy Fury Ironman Ireland game. It really feels like they finally got it close to feeling like real history. So, here is how I would look at this universe's Ireland as an historian:

Foundational Age (1091 - 1123 (33 years)) - This age of Irish history reflects the formation of Ireland as a united kingdom as well as the establishment of the institutions, both political and social, that would see this attempt at unifying the island take.

Brian I (1091 - 1101):
The Petty King of Munster and great-grandson of Brian Boru. Just a little more ambitious in this world he managed to achieve what his ancestor attempted to but failed. He was able to unite the island under his sole rule and eliminate the idea of petty kings or a high king. He was the sole king of Ireland. He died comatose in bed at the age of 53.

Donnchad/Duncan 'the Just' (1101 - 1120):
Son of Brian I. Continued his work at establishing the kingdom. Led Ireland during the Black Death. Was a part of the First Crusade, not counting the failed Children's Crusade,that was sent for Jerusalem. The idea was to appease God, who had recently sent the Black Death. He ended up dying in battle from massive amounts of wounds. He was only 42.

Mael-Sechnaill/Malachy (1120 - 1120):
Brother of Brian I. Had suffered a head injury in battle and was mostly comatose with rare moments of clarity. He was the voted heir before the majority of the voters left for the Crusade. When news returned of Duncan's death he was made King but he was a mere figurehead and it allowed the regency and bureaucracy already in place when Duncan left to keep running. He succumbed to his injuries a few months after ascending the throne. He was never crowned.

Tadg (1120 - 1123):
Great-grandson of Brian Boru from a different son than Brian I. He was the most senior member of the dynasty in the holy land after Duncan's death and was pretty much made leader by acclimation. After another major battle loss he decided they should head back to Ireland, if only to gather more troops. He and his soldiers returned soon after Malachy's death. Having an army of 1000 men, when no one else had that without time to gather them, who all advocated for him to be king was pretty persuasive. Unfortunately, he was already an old man and had become weakened by his age. He spent most of his reign in bed as his body slowly failed him, dying at the age of 73. He was never crowned.

Golden/Scottish Age (1123 - 1189 (66 years)) - Kind of a pun on golden age, though in many ways it was. The participation in the successful First Crusade saw the Ua Brian monarch award several thousand gold ducats and a few key artifacts. This money was invested and only grew the Irish Monarchy's fortune and that fortune was, for most of this Age, invested into the land itself. It is also called the Scottish Age because of the direct hand in that country and the abrupt exit from Scottish affairs at the end of the Age also makes sense.

Brian II 'the Pious' (1123 - 1149):
The son of Duncan, he saw the Crusade to its completion and was the reason the dynasty received its fortune. He was the first crowned king after his father Duncan, though the two intermediate kings between them are always counted in official reckoning. Continued the work on consolidating the power of the Kings over the dukes. Died from complications of gout at the age of 44.

Donald 'the Wealthy' (1149 - 1173):
Son of Duncan and younger brother of Brian II. A greedy man, he stockpiled the fortune he inherited and only made it grow. It is he that entered Ireland into Scottish affairs. Much of Scotland had fallen under the sway of the King of England with only a small core land still directly loyal to the Scottish king. The king was a young boy, Fingal I of the Ivaring dynasty. Donald had a weak claim on the throne through his mother and pressed it. He usurped Fingal. Eventually the English king Harold V Godwinson tried to usurp the title from him. Donald would die in battle at the age of 63.

Brian III 'the Wise' (1173 - 1186):
Son of Brian II. He ended the war winning back the Kingdom of Scotland. He is most well known for his theological studies and dialogues. He died a natural death at the age of 47.

Diarmait (1186 - 1189):
Grandson of Brian II by his mother, who had married matrilinally. Ascended the throne at the age of 17. A genius with high potential. He ended up infatuated with a woman nearly 20 years his senior. Cathan was the wife of Baron Flann Ua Brian, a kinsman who had inherited the barony from his father who had been granted it by one of the previous kings. Diarmait became a poet in his attemptes to gain the attention of and woo Cathan. He protected her from a wolf and lost a leg in the process. In the end he became depressed because he accepted that they could never be together and hung himself. His poetry survived until the present and this true story is in many ways this universe's Romeo and Juliet. He was only 20.

With his death one of the Dukes of Scotland was elected to the kingdom and, save for Ireland still possessing the county of Galloway, the kingdom was eventually swallowed up by Harold V of England. The next age hasn't shown itself to me yet, but I am already two king into it.
 
Has anyone seen the AI actually manage to form the HRE with either a 769 or 867 start? I started a Wessex Ironman game* thinking I could grab a couple achievements while learning the new Holy Fury features and waiting for the mods to update, and 50 years in I've noticed that Charlemagne's son Trutgaud looks like he could form it with a little effort (Karl was killed in combat by some random mayor and Pepin the Hunchback died of disease before he came of age). Trutgaud holds the East, West, and Middle Francia titles and the Kingdom of Italy. He has plenty of prestige. He doesn't get on with the Pope, but I think maybe the AI isn't constrained by that when it comes to taking the decision. (He's been excommunicated, though, so maybe that does prevent him from taking it? Dunno.) The biggest problem appears to be cash--the guy's broke and still bleeding money. In a non-Ironman game, I'd be tempted to give him a bunch of gold via the console just to see if he'd go through the steps of creating the Francia Imperial title and then taking the HRE decision. But I can't and so have to hope he'll figure it out on his own.

Other interesting things I've noticed: the Byzantines had an Iconoclast emperor for just long enough to flip Serbia via mass conversion. Epirus has broken from the Byzantines and has a Sunni ruler, though his land is all still Orthodox and his vassals are mostly still pagan. Saxony is still independent and pagan--Karl having died before conquering it--and has spent the last four years invading me. The Saxon High Chief is evidently after the same achievement I am (the one where you unite all Saxons), but doesn't have enough boats to carry off his invasion properly.

But the most curious thing I've noticed is that the Khazar Khagan is Hindu and is actually making significant progress in converting his land to Hinduism. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

*Wessex, if you've never played them, is like maximum easy mode. You start out personally ruling five counties and in Primogeniture. Been a while since I’ve played a ‘normal’ CKII game, so I’m takin’ it easy.
 
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Yeah, this is my first non-CK2+ game in awhile and I've been enjoying it. The Mongol Empire went with Buddhism, briefly flirted with Shia, and then went back. The whole steppes all the way up to Russia is Buddhist with some swathes of Shia thrown in. Shia is actually doing really well. Sunni meanwhile has been replaced by Zikri.
 
If im a muslim and i make the pope a tributary he cant call a crusade against right?

Also have crusades been fixed in the sense say if the crusade about Jerusalem, and a rnemy force seige one of my holding in andalusia they get up 20 war score for seiging some holdings there yet i destroy all their armies in the middle east. Which is bullshit u shouldn't be able to win crusades by taking non crusading target land.
 
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