Post your Realm!

[Clagius]

Since we got a brand new board for CK2, I find this somewhat necessary. Share your kingdoms lads!

[eXistenZ]

Are empires allowed too?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Clagius]

I can only imagine all the truces you broke.

[ccllnply]

What culture is your character there, eXistenz?

[Diamat]

Once you form the Roman Empire, the game gets ridiculously easy, since you can use the Imperial Reconquest CB to basically stomp everyone, and unlike holy wars, neighbors won't join your enemies.

[Clagius]

Once you form the Roman Empire, the game gets ridiculously easy, since you can use the Imperial Reconquest CB to basically stomp everyone, and unlike holy wars, neighbors won't join your enemies.

Indeed it does. I recall Byzantium had that CB as well if you had LoR in earlier versions, and it was limited to certain provinces. I might be wrong though.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Old Sicily Ironman that I haven't played in forever. Clean vassal borders and almost all are de Hautevilles. My dynasty also rules Pomerania.

[Diamat]

Indeed it does. I recall Byzantium had that CB as well if you had LoR in earlier versions, and it was limited to certain provinces. I might be wrong though.

It needs a mod. What needs to be changed:

-Imperial Conquest CB works like Holy War CB, meaning that neighboring realms will join against you.
-Any other state also gets an Anti-Roman CB against you, and other states will most likely join such a war against you.

[Sir Furlong]

Here is the Empire of Britannia:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Sir Adrian]

]

Old Sicily Ironman that I haven't played in forever. Clean vassal borders and almost all are de Hautevilles. My dynasty also rules Pomerania.

Is that Persia in Asia and Eastern Europe?

[eXistenZ]

What culture is your character there, eXistenz?

Normal start culture, so what is that, greek? its an old save/screen

Hard part is getting into italy, once that is done, you can just fastsiege everything with your 25k cataphracts. Switching to elective makes it easier, and the luxury of penaltyless revoking ducal titles stops factions. Byzantium in 867 is probably the easiest faction ever.

And no i didnt break any truces, oherwise i probably finished it 50y earlier :p

[Akhenaton]

Ladies and Gentleman, I present the one and only Sarcrum Romanum Imperium

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

United under the strong and wise leadership of Kaiser Sieghard of the blessed house of Karling. Rejoice, for the blessed times of Karl the Great have returned.

For anyone interested, here´s also a map showing all direct vassals.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Sir Furlong]

That is one blobby looking HRE. Just as it should of course

[eXistenZ]

you started as Vermandois i assume? nice work

[Hobbes]

That's a pretty great Empire, I always try to integrate France in the HRE.

[Akhenaton]

That is one blobby looking HRE. Just as it should of course

Well the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order bended his knee and the HRE just got bigger again

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

you started as Vermandois i assume? nice work

That's a pretty great Empire, I always try to integrate France in the HRE.

Yes, I started as Count Herbert of Vermandois in 1066. He and his son were just small counts, but his grandson Ancel became one of the three great dukes of France, the other being the duke of Burgundy and another I can´t remember.
King Hugue of House Capet was merely a puppet, only controlling the county of Paris. Late in his life Ancel decided that France needed some strong leadership (also Hugues father was king of Aquitanie and on his death Hugue would become
a real threat again) so he pressed his claim on the throne of France.

King Ancel I

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Though King Ancel ruled only for four years and his son Henri III only for twelwe, before being cowardly murdered at the age of 57, the event which took place then would shape the future of France for the next century.
During the 1170´s the authority of the french king was absolute. However succession was still dictated by Gavelkind law. Henri IV had three sons, but his oldest son Rorgues had died young leaving only a young orphan boy called Enrico behind. When the king died his second son Henri IV inherited the throne, however his younger brother Ancel became the duke of Orleans and Enrico the duke of Valois and Champagne.

A Dynasty Tree, so nobody get´s confused

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

King Henri IV ´s rule was well respected, but like his father he only ruled for twelve years, before being slain in a small skirmish against the troops of King Sancho IV of Léon close to the Pyrenees.
The Throne passed now to King Loup, a three year old boy. The High Lords of France would not have it that the throne should be held by this young pup, his Uncle Ancel seemed a much more suited
nominee. Merely half a year had passed when in the year 1190 of our Lord on the 22nd of October King Loup had to abdict the throne in favor of his uncle Ancel, now King Ancel II of France.

The following 50 Years were a time of hardship, arbitrariness and misery. The kingdom fell into chaos with the Karlingians fighting amidst themselves for the throne, while the Lords of the realm were ruling
like kings in their own Lands. A few years after Ancel´s coronation he was forced himself to give the crown to Enrico, who was now a grown man. But even though Enrico was a kind soul and a great crusader
it couldn´t save him from Ancel´s wrath who prepared for many years, before setting out and retaking the throne. It is said, Enrico became so bitter, that he died the following year of stress.
Ancel had barely held power again for ten months, when he became very sick and died. His son Henri VI followed him on the throne.

During those troubled times, young Prince Loup had returned to his family´s lands in Vermandois. One day, a traveling merchant from far away came through the gates. They said their homeland was called
Rus and lay far to the east. Among them was a young woman called Gradislava, her beauty and brilliance shined so bright, it set the young Prince heart immediatly ablaze.

Gradislava

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The were happily married and soon a girl, named Ioulanda, was born. But nothing lasts forever, a few years later in one of King Enrico´s many wars, Prince Loup, in loyal service to the crown, received a grave blow to the head.
He became but a shell of a man and soon, he succumbed to his injuries at the age of 27.

Ioulanda grew up during the reign of Henri VI under the regency of her mother. She taught her how to be a strong woman, to understand warfare but also the art of negotiating. Always did she tell her, how the throne had been stolen
from her father and should belong to her and if she´d be patient, one day she would be queen.
When Ioulanda had grown up, she was soon put to the test, as the king demanded the County of Paris from her. In the ensuing war, her training and the wealth ammassed by her mother proved decicive in defeating the tyrant king.
Henri VI had to abdict in favor of his danish grandson Jakob. With a vulnerable young boy in power, Ioulanda saw her chance and plotted to kill the boy-king. His untimley death made his other grandfather, King Gunnar of Denmark, now
King of France. This foreigner was not popular among the local nobility and now Ioulanda put herselfat the forfront of a movement to reclaim her birthright. In the final battle, the danish forces were routed and so began the reign of

Queen Ioulanda "the Wise"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My Plan now was to first conquer Normandy and then Aquitanie (which I did), also take back lands still hold by the danish king (you can still see a spot left in my former post) and then expand into italy to finaly create the frankish Empire.
However things took an unexpected turn. Ioulanda had three children, a firstborn son and two daughters. The Son became the ideal Ck 2 Character, genius, only virtues, very good strategist, a brilliant wife, someone everyone wants to play as. I had even named him Charles in honor of Charles the great!

Charles & Wife

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But then of course Paradox said " NOPE!" and made him stressed, depressed and finally paranoid

I then married my older daughter Solene matrilinearly to a german noble who was the son of the duke of Austria and made sure of his elder brothers My plan was to maybe incorporate the duchy of Austria into my realm.
Odly enough their son became Empresses Deirdre "the monk" third husband (Ioulanda had actually killed her first husband, for reasons I can´t remember. She sure has killed a LOT of people ). Even though he died young (only to be replaced by the fourth , he fathered two children. With the Empresses other son removed by queen Solene, the boy became the next Emperor and also my heir! But the queen would also outlive her grandson, Kaiser Jakob, since he was
murdered but leaving a son, Sieghard, as child-emperor behind. With a little help by his grand-grandmother, Sieghard could remain in power. And that´s how France became finally incorporated into the HRE or how the HRE came under the
rule of the french crown, as I like to put it

My plan now is to keep the HRE united until 1444 to export the save to EUIV. I already tried it out and Europe looks like a colourfull carpet Lots and lots of little kingdoms, the republic of Navarra, the republic of Barcelona, the republic
of venice, which i just founded again and there are plans to recreate the hansa. Also I want to break the scotish Bizzie Empire apart.

If you are interested, I can post the converted save file once it´s ready.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Is that Persia in Asia and Eastern Europe?

Yep. Scary, isn't it?

Alp Arslan lived into his 80s and died with like 5 or 6 kingdom titles, then he died his son formed the Empire, then it collapsed in a decadence revolt, giving the empire to Emir Hasan, who reigned for like 50-60 years and completely roflstomped the Middle East even more. I hope the Ilkhanate can actually stop them. (That moment when the Mongols are your only hope to stop blobbing)

The Fatimids are interesting. They owned Egypt to Anatolia by Jihad, then allowed a revolt Anathasios to take over, but then they retook Egypt in a claim war, and it's been a huge cluster of constant warfare between the two dynasties, completely disgusting borders and land swaps (as in them completely swapping which side owned which kingdom, multiple times) because of claimants taking back lands when the other retook their own claim. (Ex. Fatimids retake Anatolia, so Anathios has a claim, retakes it, takes over Egypt, loses it to Fatimid claims, rinse, repeat). The chaos allowed me to slowly take lands from the Fatimds in west Egypt, which had previously been a brick wall in my attempt to acquire Prester John, with the help of my Hospitallier (sp?) Grandmaster cousin (no idea how that happened) and Holy Roman allies.

I now am integrating Africa in to Sicily and only have 50 or so more years before integration is complete. I slowly ate away at the Zirids into nothingness, and Spain and North Africa's been a mess all game. (Iberians complete reconquista in 30 years, gavelkind, civil wars, Jihad takes it all back, rinse, repeat) The Almoravids have held Mauritania and Andalusia at various points, but they're on a downwars streak lately due to super Navarra, the only somewhat stable Iberians all game. Oh, and some crazy ruler managed to unite his Brittany with Aquitaine (free for a long time), Wales, Lithuania, Rus formed, Saxons of the Hayles dynasty who usurped from William formed Jerusalem, then immediately lost England to Normans again. Then the Templars won a half-Muslim Greece from Fatimids and were vassalized by Jerusalem, which then lost and retook (In Third Crusade) the holy lands during the Shia civil wars. And somehow there's independent Bohemia and Germany running right through a fractured HRE.

Crazy game, huh?

[Candy_Licker]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So I finally overthrew the Emperor. Started as a count in Italy, became duke of Spoleto, swallowed up territory in Italy, freed myself from the Karlings, pledged allegiance to the Empire, won Sicily in a holy war, became King of Serbia.

Problem: my ruler is German and catholic. My old vassals who are my powerbase are mostly German (they cover nearly all Italian territories and many in the Balkans), some Italian and all catholic, my new ones Greek. Also many bishops and mayors are Orthodox. And I'm labelled as 'foreign conqueror' with -30 relations with my new vassals. All troublemakers are imprisoned atm.

what would you do: should I stay German or grow my heir Greek? And should I stay catholic or orthodox? I'd rather prefer catholic since the other catholic realms could help me if it get attacked my muslims, but how could I deal with the patriarch who is very powerful?

[Sir Adrian]

Stay Catholic until you break the Muradids. After that you won't need the pope anymore so you can convert and mend the schism.

@gggg Yes, but it also gives me ideas (currently playing as Persia)

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sicily Ironman. Just got Papal throne for a family member after a hard war. I managed to barely beat his initial merc stacks (he had 70k gold), and then kept killing them when he spammed them with low morale. Hasan Khaganate had like 120k men (4x as much as me or anyone else) last I checked.

What do you guys think?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Black Doge, and mega Navarra were some oddities. Super Brittany-Aquitaine broke up for twenty years before the Breton Alan IV could retake Aqutaine.

Edit: forgot to take pics, but fractured Castille turned into a Celtic faced de Normandie King. No idea how it happened, but it's just hilariously odd to me. Only Jimean kings left are Leon and Navarre, but Navarre's heir is my dynasty. (Current king was heir and accepted invited to my court. He matrimarried my dynasty member who was his brother's widow after his brother did the same thing, and was then assassinated by him. You'd think he'd be smart enough not to fall for it....