I CAME IN LIKE A WREEEEEEECKING SLAV
I NEVER HIT SO HARD IN LOOOOVE
ALL I WANTED WAS TO SIEGE YOUR WALLS
ALL I EVER SAID WAS, CASUS BELLI
Tl;dr, there was a slight change of plans. After Emperor Slavko the Bold sacked Jerusalem in the V Crusade, it marked the beginning of a new era. Quite fitting as the year was nearing the 1000 A.D. mark. It was not Emperor Slavko the Bold who was to shake the world over, it was his grandson Emperor Slavko the Wise who would attain glory and conquest, and his son Emperor Vukoman who would go beyond what Alexander the Great was able to achieve. Took over Rome with an antipope, suddenly got flooded with money.
http://i.imgur.com/OaOuI8B.pngThe people weren't a fan of Pope Honorarius II, but he was just a stepping stone.
Began uniting the Miroslav Kingdoms and purging the ranks of Skoljdung infiltrators, clearing Bavaria and Germany of some Princes who thought they could take our lands by marriage. Also managed to form England, Wales and Ireland after both Saxony and Ulster were vassalized. Saxony was the first Miroslav state onto the British Isles and Ulster was a Norman Miroslav adventurer who conquered Ulster and helped conquer just about everything that wasn't controlled by a Scandinavian or Scot. Severely hamstringed House de Cantabria, knocked the French Berenglings out of power and formed the Empires of Germania and Francia.
With all this done Serbia had a surplus of gold and gusars. It was decided that while the Miroslav family was being united by force of levy, the Gusars would go East conquering through the coast of Balochistan and the Ferzadid Empire until the supply chain reached India.
India itself was wracked with constant war, as none of the families could really gain any permanent leverage against the others and so would keep struggling forever. So when the Serbians finally crashed into India under the reign of Emperor Vukoman, they wrecked all opposition. Divided, their mighty hosts could do little to avoid being taken down one by one by the highly mobile cavalry.
Ironically it would be the Serbian invasion which would bring stability to the region - with a common enemy and the bonus of being attacked by an infidel, the Indian families have grown considerably more solid and stable both in the maintenance of their Kingdoms/Empires and in the conducting of their defences. Fundamentally I do not think there is much they can do, a war elephant is as good as two Gusars and there's just no winning when you have 120 war elephants against 12,000 Gusars.
It's interesting to note that the tribes in Russia are developing economies. They could transition into feudalism some time soon... Providing they adopt Catholicism, or reform Suomensko.
Independent countries. Yellow blob is currently the Empire of Serbia - Serbia proper has maintained constant borders, with the exception in that it has taken one more county in Bosnia than it started with and still has not regained Ohrid from the Byzantine Empire.
Families spread. Yellow blob is the Miroslav family, which currently only three independent countries are led by. The Empire of Serbia, the Byzantine Empire and the Khanate of Wallachia. Now that I think about it, I could probably reform the Roman Empire if I claim the Byzantine Empire. After India, I suppose.
At any rate the Miroslav family is now nigh-indestructible. Not surprising, as I'm still seeing Karling counts long after their Kingdoms were overthrown. In much the same way, Miroslavs are everywhere from baronies to Kingdoms, and obviously Empires. It would have to take several succession crises or mass genocide like the Aztecs or Mongols to clear them out. Families of note; the Bahirid Dynasty returned after briefly being toppled by the Azizid. The old Umayyad also took over Andalusia after the previous dynasty was toppled by the Azizid as well. The Azizid caved into the Yazidi revolts and Yazidi invasions, briefly making the Arabian Empire Yazidi. Luckily the Bahirid and Umayyad returned with Sunni Islam, keeping Arabia divided. The Barrani Caliphate is predictably being suffocated to death by three Empires, Serbian Byzantine and Ferzadid Persian. The Ferzadid family is doing all right, half of the de jure lands they lost to Serbia were being controlled by an independent King of Balochistan so they could be doing worse. The once powerful Mordvanid family in pagan Russia has since lost half of its land after the Kingdom of Rus fell to a non-Mordvanid due to succession. House Zuwa in Mali is doing all right and House Solomonid in Abyssinia too, though the Abyssinian Kingdoms gavelkinded into Abyssinia and Nubia in pretty short order. There may be room for Serbia to take Egypt to use to ferry troops to India right past the deserts of Arabia and Persia. The Awadid family in southern Arabia (light green) is notable in that it is eating away at the Bahirid Dynasty, and has adopted the Yazidi religion as its state religion.
Culture-wise Serbian has obviously spread to significance on a par with German, French, Greek, Bedouin and Berber. Major things of note:
Dutch has nearly been all but wiped out by the French, Nubian & Egyptian is being assimilated by Ethiopian, Visgothic by Andalusian, Lombard by Italian and Persian by Balochistani. Everywhere from Jerusalem to India should be getting considerably more Serbian, or perhaps German. A large number of Miroslavs sent to India were sourced from Miroslav Germany and Saxony, what with those two countries producing far more Miroslavs than small Serbia.
Sunni Islam still has a mighty presence in the Arabian Empire, even if the Yazidi religion has carved out niches within it. Miaphysite Christianity is spreading through Egypt, cutting the Sunni world in half. West African is still enduring, though they look set to lose Marrakech soon to the Umayyad. The Germanics in Norway have finally overthrown their Suomensko overlords, but are now far too weak to reform. The Slavic pagans have been all but eradicated, with the Romuva being next. The Suomensko could realistically reform if they took Novgorod... From Pannonia and the Byzantine Empire. Not likely. Orthodox Christianity is nearly also dead, held up by a few minor states here and there. The mess of religions and heresies that was once the wartorn mountains of the Byzantine Empire have since returned to a much more peaceful region, only this time with stability brought about by Catholicism and not Orthodoxy. Amazingly Manicheanism is still alive, Zoroastrianism still thrives in the Ferzadid Empire and the Tengris endure.
In India the Buddhists and Hindus were wiping out the Jains, then the Serbians accidentally everything all over the place. The result being that now Catholicism is wiping out the Hindus and Jains. The Buddhists get refuge in the mighty Pala Empire, which has currently been the only Indian state to deal heavy defeats to the Serbian offensive.
Best part of all this is that this is how large Serbia's army is when it's being led by a philosopher King and not a warrior King.
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Topic: Crusader Kings 2 is released. (Read 2120372 times)