Crusader Kings 2 Redux

[jimmy olsen]

Mecca converted to Catholicism? That seems bad for business.

Croatians won a crusade for Egypt way back near the start and I won a crusade for Anatolia.  Been downhill for Islam since then.

[jimmy olsen]

Doing pretty well for an 867 start

[The Brain]

How Slav are they?

[jimmy olsen]

What a load of horseshit. My name literally means Emperor now and I was known as the philosopher. Look how large the Empire has grown

[The Brain]

Did you marry your horse, the Pope? No? Then you haven't achieved much in CK terms.

[Threviel]

You'll find that your name literally means king rather than emperor. Not much of a philosopher it seems, game is on point.

[Valmy]

You'll find that your name literally means king rather than emperor.

The Greeks were using the latin term Regas or Rex for King during this era.

[Threviel]

Damn.

[jimmy olsen]

Damn, taking Rome in the 910s may not have been wise. Didn't mean to blow up Catholicism like that.

There seems to be some kind of new bug with Greek Orthodox rulers. They go way over the demse limit and refuse to give out cities and temples to vassals for decades on end. Had to load up as the Greek Exarch and gave out his cities and temples in the duchy of Antioch. Have all 4 Patriarchs now, but somehow Orthodox authority is only in the 60s. I blame all the holy wars my vassals have lost.

[jimmy olsen]

The Empire prospers

[jimmy olsen]

Megistos the Saint passed away in his early 50s, but he will always be remembered for ending the budding schism of the Church and stabilizing western Christendom.



His heir would quickly be assailed by the 1st of three Abbasid jihads for Azerbaijan.
Why Azerbaijan was the goal when the Empire controlled Jerusalem and much of the northern Levant is unknown.

[jimmy olsen]

That gaunt looking guy was named a Saint after passing, while Megistos the Saint was not. Hardly fair I think. If you manage to heal the schism you should be guaranteed sainthood despite your traits.

Anyways, two imperial elections later, the first Makedon Emperess has been elected on the strength of her amazing combination of traits and stats. As you can see, the Empire has greatly expanded it's presence in Syria and Italy.

Makedon Exarchs currently rule over Sicily, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Trebizond, Armenia and Syria, while a distant cousin rules as despot over Sardina & Corsica. Notable Makedon dukes rule over Jerusalem and Tunis.

[Solmyr]

What is up with her face?

[jimmy olsen]

What is up with her face?

She was just in a battle and got a minor injury. That's illustrated on the portrait by splattering it with blood.

She ended up losing Shy and gaining Poet, which is good.

She also ended up gaining Possessed and Lunatic which is bad.

Negatives are she thinks she's a werewolf. Positives are she can now add improvements to the Pyramids, which are a fucking death trap. Without fail two random courtiers are killed by the traps in the Pyramids while exploring, every time a new Emperor is elected. And not just randos either. Once they got the new Emperor's younger brother and sister.

[Solmyr]

So, I fired up the game and decided to go with Apulia to relearn the ropes. Robert Guiscard managed to create the kingdom of Sicily after taking out the local Muslims. His son Bohemond (yes, that Bohemond) ruled long and well and even managed to put his bastard son on the throne of crusader Africa. Despite being, well, this:



At the time of his death, Bohemond was a grievously scarred, one-eyed, one-legged eunuch, who was also a stressed-out lunatic with cancer (the latter he ultimately died from). Besides conquering most of Africa, he fought against the counter-jihad called by the Abbasid caliph and personally took Baghdad. All the fighting resulted in him progressively losing more bits of his body and mind. Despite that, he managed to outlive all his sons and passed the throne to his grandson (whose father was originally a half-Berber bastard who was Bohemond's son by a lowborn Berber wench he picked up on the African crusade; he had to be legitimized to secure succession once Bohemond's trueborn sons were dead).

So yeah. The historical Bohemond got off lightly.