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Well, well, well. Mongols in the hands of tamius? How will this end :D?

Also, how often will you receive the stacks of doom?
 
morningSIDEr: The Byzantines certainly are one of the most powerful realms in the area. They and I keep switching for the top in terms of number of levies raisable, but they're better at keeping their realm together - not nearly as many civil wars!

Saithis: Constantinople is probably out of the question for the time being, but relations with the Golden Horde are currently not particularly great, what with their conversion away from the true Tengri faith to Islam...

Athalcor: Probably badly! Civil wars! Death!... :D

As for the stacks of doom, I have no idea. I haven't got any at the moment, I hope I receive some soon, though the source may have dried up in the hope I can be self-sufficient in soldiers.

Hannibal X: There's no danger of me killing them too badly. I just wish their realm would fall to pieces. I've never seen it happen, they always end up in Persia in my games... Currently the Byzantine Emperor is heir to Poland (the Polish Queen and former Emperor were married), so they are likely to get even stronger than they are now.







The Il-khanate​

Chapter 5​


ilkhanate54.jpg


The Horde has converted! (does this mean I won't be presented with an opportunity to do so myself? The Golden Horde appeared before the Ilkhanate...)



This means that all pagans in the Golden Horde at once convert to Islam. Even the peasants.



With the truce up and the levies-raise penalty gone away, I declare war on the Shia Caliphate again.



I have been getting lots of messages like this one, but this marks a particular victory for Tengriism. Mecca is also Mongol-cultured.



Now there are more Christians in the Holy Land - this time, the Swedes. I am going to come into contact with them at some point.



An altogether friendlier name than his father (the Cruel) or his grandfather (the Noble).



My wife dies. She was 67. I then find myself a nice sixteen-year-old (another Cuman).



...who I immediately get pregnant. My first wife only gave me one son, and my ambition is still to have a daughter.



She gives me another son. Interestingly, while my wife is dead, my mother (Lappish) lives on at 79.



Meanwhile, (my wife is pregnant again) the Khagan's lover has not gone away.



Jurchedei, my Persian eldest son, dies. Now I'll play as my grandson, Mahmud, if Dodai dies.



My sixth child and fourth son. Even if I am 65 years old, my wife is just 22. In the same picture - the war against the Caliphate. I won't be taking much land off them if I win.



The Khagan passes away and his grandson, Mahmud, ascends the throne. The war with the Shia Caliphate is cancelled, but not with the rebellious chiefdom of Khwarizm.



Khwarizm is defeated, but other vassals take this an an opportunity to declare independence. Obviously, they fail, but combined with the peasant rebellions (especially in isolated Kirkuk province; I may have to give it up, it spawns 5,000 man armies at least once a year which threaten to defect, and in this case defected from my demesne to a vassal of mine's) my realm is fairly prcariously balanced at the moment. All the rest of my vassals are content for the time being.
 
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The Il-khanate​

Chapter 6​



Disaster! The Shahanshah (pronounced "Khagan") dies in battle, and his fifteen-year-old son ascends the throne. Along with the current numbers of vassals in revolt, more will follow suit shortly. It doesn't help that the High Chief of Basra can vomit up soldiers far, far quicker than I.



I have no idea how I lost this battle, when I outnumbered them 782 to 1. And I was on full morale, too.



I manage to imprison some of my vassals, like this one, but others I had to make a white peace with, since Byzantium was trying to snaffle them.



My first son. His mother names him after his grandfather. He's Persian, too.



The Duchy of Syria temporarily declares independence from Byzantium (a plot to lower crown authority). I attack them, in the hope of re-connecting Kirkuk, but I don't really expect to gain much. Their army looks to be a pushover.



Sure enough, I raise my levies, but get not a sausage from Byzantium. One day I'll get them back for taking bits of the Sunni Caliphate...



My fifth child. Their names are (I didn't name them): Mahmud, Asa, Parviz, Dariush, and Fariborz.



After eating the little sheikhdom of Tabuk, I take my anger out on Sanaa. Die!

ilkhanate77.jpg


Sanaa puts up a strong resistance (they're #4 in the world in terms of soldiers, after the Byzantine Empire, me, and the Shia Caliphate - above even the HRE!) but eventually, with all my troops mobilised, I manage to begin occupying their lands. But this doesn't come without risks.

ilkhanate78.jpg


They finally give in, with at least a hundred thousand lives lost. Now I can take all the Sunnis' titles away, replace them with pagans, then Tengriism can spread into Africa.

But that can wait for another time.
 
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From your updates I gain the impression that you exclusively use a tidal wave of brute force and when that solution fails, you use even more brute force.
 
From your updates I gain the impression that you exclusively use a tidal wave of brute force and when that solution fails, you use even more brute force.

Shush now, you wouldn't want to reveal his genius strategy, would you?
 
My wife dies. She was 67. I then find myself a nice sixteen-year-old (another Cuman).

Always the best and most respectful way to mark the passing of a much loved spouse.

Very surprising the defeat at the battle of Ilam! Good that you had rather more luck against the deceptively strong Sanaa though. Byzantium seem to be proving nearly as irksome as your 'loyal' vassals, hopefully you can deal with them at some point.
 
Any specific reason you started in 1066 not in 1187 or 1187 scrolled to say 1215?


The last screenshot looks like a bug to me.
10 guys making 10 losses for all groups except horse archers and knights, making it a defeat and getting out alive..
 
Athalcor, esemesas: Seems you know my strategy now :( I need to keep vassals happy (or in prison, where they belong) and the happier they are the more troops I get out of them. Of course, I've got squillions and squillions in gold, so I can shower them in gifts (started with 5k and have never gone below it).

morningSIDEr: You say Sanaa was deceptively strong, but I was the one doing the decepting :D At the time I invaded Sanaa, the HRE was falling to bits under the Occitan Emperor. The Empire could field 7,000 men, Sanaa 22,000, and I had more than 100,000.

Magnos III: Now I feel bad that I sent my troops back immediately after I lost the battle and killed the ten of them :(

binTravkin: I wanted to start in December rather than September 1066. I think I just wanted to see the different regnal names of countries like England - in a previous game I had King Hugh III, in this one I have King Gorm III, a Dane. Also, I watched some odd occurences happen in the twelfth century, like the famous Finnish Premyslids in Bohemia.

There were some Byzantine soldiers there as well. I don't know how their morale was - those may have just lost a battle against a different army.
 
A nice read, in my game at the moment I am bordered by the Golden Horde(scary) and they are bordered by the Ilkhanate(a little scary), neither have converted yet, though in a previous game they became Orthodox. I do wonder what factors into the conversion events for the Mongols.
 
Incredible casualties, seems that the Il-Khanate will have to take every inch of soil with a tithe of blood.
 
Lord Blekinge: As do I! I have no idea what would trigger that event, or if it is even possible to fire for human players. I'll look in the event files at some point, but for now I stay Tengri.

Saithis: Indeed they will! It doesn't bode well for the inevitable clash with one of the other two empires I border. I think the great big Russian duchy of Vladimir or Ryazan or whatever it is this week is high on the list of targets. Byzantine Poland is very powerful indeed.










The Il-khanate​

Chapter 7​



The final defeat of the former Emir of Sanaa and his last title confiscated. With no Muslim vassals anywhere, I can get peasants converted to paganism. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Baghdad is fighting Byzantium for independence and winning. If they do manage to declare independence, I will invade them.



The logical target for expansion - the other Horde!



New strategy! Along with if-brute-force-isn't-working-I'm-not-using-enough, I'm trying to occupy solely the Khagan's demesne. This is for two reasons - one being I may be able to gain the entire realm, since the Khagan will lose all his titles and hence his emperor title, and the other being that he doesn't seem to be able to raise levies outside his demesne.

This map is on direct vassals mode.



While I was invading the GH, my wife died, in her fifties. I found myself a nice woman - great stats, and she wasn't of my dynasty nor was she in my court. Only after we marry do I discover I've married my aunt.



And at this point the Shahanshah finds that he has gone completely potty.



With a little experimentation, I find that occupying and taking his demesne won't leave him title-less and have the rest of his vassals become mine, so I just occupy what I want (ie. most of Russia, and the Lithuanian coast) and take peace when I want it.

That is 108 important messages to read (108 titles gained!); I rearrange them among new courtiers. Now I just need to grow my map font...

This is a short update, but was great fun to play. Admittedly, I didn't take a great deal of screenshots - the battles were few and far between, because the Golden Horde didn't have that many troops.
 
Now I just need to grow my map font...

Always the most important consideration for any ruler!

Uniting both Hordes was a wise move it puts you in a position of great power, especially if you can begin taking chunks out of your main rival in the area, the Byzantines. I'm not surprised the Shahanshah went a little mad, I would be the same if I found out I'd married my aunt.
 
I'm still trying to get over the Byzantine Ingria/Novgorod/Estonia/Finland region.
 
Technically, you could hold EVERY title in your realm, leaving no vassals to be upset about that :D. That would be awesome.
 
morningSIDEr: The Byzantines are completely out of the question at the moment. With the current Emperor Artemios II having been on the throne for donkey's years everyone loves him so much they provide him with 400,000 soldiers. Twice as many as the Ilkhanate. Besides, I'm preoccupied with the recent conquests right now...

Magnos III: A Queen of Poland thought it was an excellent idea to marry - not matrilineally - the heir to the throne of Byzantium. She died in 1305 or something.

Saithis: Since Prussia was so strong for so long (still pagan well into the thirteenth century) Poland couldn't attack them like it normally does. It took its anger out on Estonia, Ingria and Finland, and Poles settled in pagan Ingria. They then proceeded to spread Polish culture all over the area. Byzantium inherited it along with the rest of the Polish realm.

ZechsMerquise73: Thanks for the praise :) The current Khagan has a similar predicament:



He went and married his grandfather's lover. Strangely, one of my wife's children - a bastard - is not my son, but my uncle.


The Il-khanate​

Chapter 8​



The Shahanshah was maimed a long time ago fighting in East Africa. The best doctors of the realm finally manage to heal him.



I also use the time after the war to change the Imperial laws to Primogeniture. Now my second son Dariush will not inherit the Khanate of Persia. A lot of vassals aren't greatly happy about this.



Looks like the Shia Caliphate is misnamed. It should be the Bektashi Caliphate. Naturally, on the death of his father, who I struggled against for Hedjaz, the realm falls apart.



Though that isn't the oddest thing in the Caliphate - there are some Swedish Muslims in Palestine.



In the neighbourhood: the newly-formed Kingdom of Rus. With the Golden Horde severely weakened by me, the Duke of Ryazan and some other places attacks what's left, and the Khaganate is dissolved. The Mongol Duchy of Hlynov is what's left - after converting all the Lapps to Islam they lose Karelia to Norway.



I thought I would rather like the title Kingdom of Rus, so I invade them. This will be much easier than fighting an empire, because I get to vassalise the King. It was a toss-up between them and the Bektashi Caliphate (has repaired itself, but will be weak for a bit).



As hordes of Mongols cross the border, I have to tell my scheming grandson to stop plotting against me. This might have something to do with the fact his wife is my lover.



The Shahanshah died during the war, apparently of natural causes. Fortunately, it didn't end there and then. I thought that changing the Imperial Laws would stop me losing titles to second sons, but Dariush's son Guchu inherits Persia, which is both huge and powerful. He also takes the former capital - the new one is the county of Antalo, in Ethiopia.



A succession inevitably comes with uppity vassals, so in an effort to pacify them I lower Crown Authority.



The King of Rus gives up at 59% warscore in my favour, and the empire now looks like this:



He's now my vassal. I'm not even disbanding my levies - he's sure to revolt immediately.



The Khagan was 51 when he ascended the throne - he only sat on it for nine years, barely long enough to keep it warm. The rebellions in Rus are by no means done.

The King of Rus was called in to a revolt by a count of mine - without fighting him, I beat the count and was lucky enough to imprison the King afterwards. He since died. All his vassals resent me now.

I'm trying to finish all civil wars to get medium crown authority in Rus - then I can revoke infidel (Christian and Muslim) titles from all the imprisoned dukes.

But I haven't done it yet thanks to the rebellious Persian duke of Samogitia. He's so isolated it's dreadfully difficult to defeat him. I wish I'd never taken that land from the GH!
 
You needed to change the Royal Laws of Persia to match those of Ill-khanate. Changing the Imperial laws actually did not help.

I am pretty aware of this stuff - I have been playing my game as Gwynedd since I got the game and I have decided to use the Seniority Succession Law so when I conquered Scotland, I had to rush to increase the Crown Authority AND change the Succession Laws before my king died.

(also: Seniority pretty much messes your orientation in the Family Tree as your played character jumps from one branch to another one)