Up to about 1335 in my Principality of Mali game. Mongols and Aztecs have fired, though with the predictable surge followed by retreat as the AI wastes its strength.
Golden Horde triggered first, but because Saray was still in Tengri hands, the Khan just sat there as a resident with no stacks for a good thirty years.
The Ilkhanate triggered and proceeded to nom up a swath of land from the borders of Perm all the way to the Persian Gulf. At some point the Golden Horde finally triggered and showed up with 100,000 troops in Ili, but because of the Ilkhanate's northern conquests, they were kinda cock-blocked (Khan-blocked?) on any further expansion. Eventually the Ilkhanate forces were whittled down, and the Abbasids and Byzantines counter-attacked. But the Golden Horde was an Ilkhanate ally because they were holy wars, and their 100K stack came crashing out of the steppes and wreaking havoc. Eventually the Abbasids declared and won a jihad for Persia, which was granted to the Bektashi Order. Then the Golden Horde, still flush with troops, declared an invasion and won Persia back. Meanwhile the Ilkhanate had extended all the way to the Crimea, and the situation was left with swathes of Golden Horde and Ilkhanate territory crisscrossing across West Asia.
By reaching into Crimea, they gained enough holy sites and moral authority to reform Tengriism. Both khans have exhausted their initial event stacks and are just barely holding on to their territory. In fact, I've deliberately married some of the princesses of the Khanates just so I can intervene against the Abbasids to keep them from regaining Persia. (Us Pagans have to stick together -- and can marry across religious lines).
The Kardazid dynasty holds the thrones of Russia, Suomi, Lithuania and Ruthenia, and have for well over a century, but could never quite get the Russia-blob big enough to reform Suomenusko. Until about 20 years ago, and i'm still not sure how they did it as no single king held more than two holy sites. May have been a moment when one king inherited shortly before dying and splitting it through gavelkind again. Despite reforming Suomenusko, the four kings have retained gavelkind succession, which will keep mighty Russia from blobbing anytime soon. The Russian (or more specifically Mordvin) kings seem to be getting along okay with their Mongol neighbors, who have spent all their aggressions on the weaker Tengri tribes, the Byzantines and the Abbasids.
The Abbasids are confined to Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Jerusalem. They've stayed out of my way for the most part except for one attempt around 1300 to invade Egypt, which they paid dearly for.
Brittania seems close to forming, under a Welsh monarch. Wales/Brythonniad is by far the largest kingdom, with Ireland/Iwerddon and England/Lloegyr lesser kingdoms owned by relatives (gavelkind split the triple crown). Scotland/Alba is an Irish kingdom restricted pretty much to the Highlands and Isles. The Lowlands are part of France (and for a time, were ALL of France -- see below). Also, there's been a Viking hold in Argyll for centuries now, despite my going up there and burning it to the ground on at least three seperate occasions, the last when a raid by Argyll knocked my young genius Grand Prince on the head and lead to an early death.
The Aztecs laid waste to Portugal, France and most of Spain before reaching their ebb. The Kingdom of France (which is only the northern half, thanks to a powerful Aquitaine) was completely conquered, leaving only French holdouts in lower Scotland to retain the crown and title. Despite their successes, the Aztecs spent far too much defending separate conquests in Iberia and Brittany against a coalition of Lombardy, Wales, the Pope, the various knightly orders and the HRE, and it led to a lot of attrition. They've since lost all their holdings in France and have been pushed back to Portugal and chunks of central Iberia. At one point I had my defenses beefed up in Tangiers, bracing for the Jaguar Warriors to come screaming across the Straits of Gibraltar, but they never quite made it that far. Disappointing really. (Though better than that one game where they conquered Iceland and then just sat there.)
The HRE at one point had an antipope for well on 30 years, and during that time had conquered Rome. Eventually the antipope died, and the HRE gave Rome back to the Pope.
Sweden, after flirting with Catholicism on and off for a few decades, finally took conversion seriously -- and was promptly conquered by their Viking Norwegian brothers. But with unreformed Germanic, they were unable to break the faithful in Sweden, which eventually had a liberation revolt, so Catholic Sweden is once again a force to be reckoned with in the North (and I'm grateful, because it means less raiders showing up on my doorstep every year).
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Topic: Crusader Kings 2 is released. (Read 2113794 times)