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[Mephansteras]

My game has gone interestingly.

Eventually got enough boats and smacked the Papacy to knock off the nonsense with that temple.

Slowly and surely the Kings of Pictland conquered all of the British Isles and formed the Empire of Alba. Just in time, too, as that ruler was able to form the various Kingdoms and the Empire while he still lived. Gavelkind did its nasty business after that, but the Empire was secure despite the various brothers inheriting the kingdoms. 

We then stuck into Brittany to conquer a 4th Holy Site and reformed the Celtic Faith.

After that things got...interesting for me. A strong ruler died a bit too young from stress, leaving his woefully inadequate Heir in charge during a Holy War in France. That idiot managed to screw everything up but leading the armies himself in a critical battle (with his 2 martial skill), losing us a battle we should have easily won. He then died shortly thereafter, leaving his young daughter in charge. With the war for France in tatters and my personal armies and wealth decimated, one of the stronger Kings of Britain declared that he should be in charge. I reluctantly agreed, and Queen Brigitte II of Pictland retired to a much smaller holding.

That was fine. I'd accomplished the grand Empire stuff I'd been meaning to do anyway and had been trying to figure out what to focus on next. So while Alba as a whole continued battling into France I contented myself with getting this kid raised up and tidying things in Pictland.

Eventually she grew to become a decent ruler. A bit weak in many areas, but a strong Steward and decent commander. On a whim I changed the succession to Absolute Cognatic, because I could. This became important later.

I then set about looking for ways to increase her personal power. Alba was converted to an Elective Monarchy, so at first I decided to see if she could reclaim the throne for herself. But then...a new opportunity arose. The Circle of Druids declared a Great Holy War for Lombardy. I joined in and through some luck and good strategic placement I managed to earn the whole of Lombardy for myself. So Queen Brigitte II became 'The Glorious' of both Pictland and Italy. The rest of her sadly shortened reign was taken up divvying up Italy's titles and trying to conquer a few of the remaining chunks. One of her sons was instated as a new Trade Republic around Tuscany (can't remember the name of the Dutchy). Another was set up as a standard Feudal lord further on the west coast of Italy. But then she became depressed and died due to all the pressure.

So I'm back as her eldest son as King of Pictland. All well and good. But her eldest Daughter, married off non-matralinially to the king of Pomerania prior to the succession law change, was given Italy. That's...going to be interesting. There is also the former King of Lombardy knocking around as a ducal vessel of hers causing problems.

Not sure how all that'll shake out.

The world as a whole is interesting. Some random viking took over Rome a long time ago, and between that and my conquests in the name of the Celtic Faith Catholicism has been steadily crumbling in power. Heresies are rampant and the Pope's few attempts at Crusades haven't accomplished anything at all.

None of the other pagan religions have reformed, though they remain fairly strong, and the huge Kingdom of Khazaria converted to Zoroastrianism, so that's interesting. The Abassids imploded into chunks a while ago, but the Umayyads have almost all of Spain and a good chunk of Southern France. So we'll have to deal with them at some point.

And now I'm back to deciding what direction to take Pictland. I have a holding in Normandy, I could try expanding from there. Or I could see about expanding north or east. Or I could focus on internal politics, which could be interesting. I haven't done that much in a while.

[A Thing]

Obligatory link to new dev diary. Not that it is really worth reposting now that the CK2 launcher links to them when they come out.

[Cruxador]

Obligatory link to new dev diary. Not that it is really worth reposting now that the CK2 launcher links to them when they come out.

For those of us who play irregularly and in spurts, I reckon it's still worth it. I haven't touched CK2 since before Stellaris came out.

[umiman]

Obligatory link to new dev diary. Not that it is really worth reposting now that the CK2 launcher links to them when they come out.

For those of us who play irregularly and in spurts, I reckon it's still worth it.

[Sirbug]

Just lost election for my core kingdom, and while I still keep the empire running, I lost most valuable sources of income and levies. Since they got all the levies, they secured independence.

This sucks.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[A Thing]

Two new dev diaries typed exclusively for your discerning textual desires.

[Man of Paper]

Playing as the Count of Lombardy, my family of spies has been keeping the Alachisling family on the throne from the shadows without any form of recognition, save when the first king gave us command of an army sent to it's death against the Africans that we had barely escaped. We have been responsible for kidnapping and assassinating many who seek to either replace, overthrow, or kill my rightful liege.

Though maybe I should let them do their thing. See, the biggest issue I've had is the constant resurgence of plots to put the Karling king of East and West Francia on the Lombard throne. But I went in wanting to be a loyal spymaster. Well, I won't be able to hold the gates forever.

Fun sidenote: The first king went to war over Tunis with the Africans. We got our shit pushed in. Luckily, the war ended when my king died of Elderly-itis. Six years later his son comes out of his regency and that SAME DAY declares war on the Africans again. This time it's totally different though. Because at least we stood a chance the first time around. There's been a lot of infighting between counts and dukes. Even I had to muster my forces when my mayor resisted arrest and tried to rebel.

Playing good guy spy is really fun though.

IMMEDIATE EDIT: New king got assassinated. Luckily he has a son. Now the challenge begins. If I can get this kid to adulthood it'll be a fuckin' miracle. Kid's a whole five months old.

Return of the Edit: So it took three generations, but I've finally been made spymaster. Three king generations, I mean. My first is still alive. King's seven now, and his Regent is a dick. He's been using his position to press his claims and those of his buddies it seems. Power in the south is being consolidated by a couple families while the northern counties remain as individuals. Within a month of my position as Spymaster I made an argument to the court to make me the King's regent instead. The Regent's power plays have left him with many friends, however, and I was forced to back down.

They've been nibbling away the power of the King. In ten years when he properly takes the throne, if he lives that long, he's going to have a handful of dirt to his name. This regent needs to go.

Also, my heir and daughter is now linked by matrilineal marriage to the heir of the Byzantine Empire.

[Mephansteras]

Finally tried out the latest Game of Thrones mod. If you want a Conquer the World game you just can't go wrong with Aegon the Conqueror. Dragons are seriously OP. I have all 7 of the Kingdoms and a good chunk of coastal Essos as well and he's only in his 40's. Sadly my very promising daughter/heir got killed in the last war, so I'm going to have to hope he hangs on until her son grows up. Kid shows promise, although he's too young to know if he's mad or not yet.

Also, the lords of the Vale are pansies. Everyone else in Westeros at least fought back. They rolled over as soon as I declared war on them.

[Man of Paper]

So within a few months of the Child King officially taking the throne I get assassinated by the Genoan doge, the one doing everything he can to cripple the Alachisling family's power in the north. New character is a countess with her stats all between 7 and 10, with Martial being at 10. She's the one with the Byzantine prince husband, remember.

Simultaneously the young Lombard king has a war for instituting an Elective Monarchy is declared, a Byzantine war for Corsica, and demands for Independence from Benevento all drop into his lap. Benevento, now consisting of Aprutium, Capua, Benevento, Foggia, Apulia, and Bari, thanks to the Regent consolidating power down there.

The Civil War, of course led by the bastard Genoan, was a massive drain on resources. Especially as the Africans also decided to invade and take Salerno for their own. The massive African armies swept across Lombardy, crippling us enough that the Genoans were able to push their warscore to the high 70s without resistance. Once my levies replenished, the Africans had Salerno, and the Byzantines had Corsica, we were finally able to focus on the Genoan rebels, who had by this point introduced an army of mercenaries into the fight and gotten a warscore of 98. The two Genoan armies maneuvered to flank my liege's army and my own. My liege fled inland while my forces stayed in an attempt to delay our attackers. It had worked. The mercenaries, impatient and smelling blood, changed course to attack my liege and opted not to wait for their employers. Together they would have beaten us. But we fought long enough against the Genoans that the mercenaries were soundly beaten before reinforcements arrived, and so our enemy was soundly crushed. The King opted for a white peace, though we could have easily swept over their captured territory. Likely he was starting to feel light in the pockets.

Oh, also one of my daughters is now married to the king of France. And boy is that region a clusterfuck of borders between Germany, Francia, France, and Aquitaine.

[LordBrassroast]

Never make a custom Empire out of Denmark, Saxony, and Sweden. You will create Fabulous Pink Vikings. That may be some people's thing, but I'm 98% percent sure Vikings weren't often pink.

[Rolan7]

I like Denmark's color
Cool tip though, I guess it uses the primary kingdom's color for the new empire.

[LordBrassroast]

No, Denmark was a nice red color, but all 3 colors blended to somehow create a light pink.

[Lukewarm]

It's not pink, it's the color of Sea Rinsed Blood^tm

[Man of Paper]

I've never had a not-pink custom empire...

[umiman]

Is that how it works? It merges the colours?

I always thought it was just a random colour.