What is your best soap opera moment in CK2?

Here's a tale of drama: one of hate, betrayal and revenge...

It begins with the death of King Erwan I of Brittany: A decent ruler who was beloved by his vassals. Howver, his eldest son, Konan De Rennes, isn't a nice chap. A cruel, impaling angry 16 year old lad. Within a few months of his ascension, his own cousin, another Konan, declares himself King and overthrows his cousin and names himself Konan III,imprisoning the young Prince Konan.

All is going well. Konan III is a decent ruler, Prince Konan, his largest threat, is behind bars. But more war is on the way. Prince Konan's younger brothers, Prince Gael and Prince Oberto both come to ange and both like the looks of King Konan III's throne.

And so begins a three-way civil war between King Konan, Prince Gael and Prince Oberto. Meanwhile, Prince Konan ransoms himself out and invades Scotland, robbing King Konan II of most of his army. Konan loses to Gael, who loses to Oberto two years later.

It's looking good for Oberto: he's a decent guy and a good king. But the De Rennes civil war isn't done: King Konan if Alba (Scotland), previously King Konan II of Brittany, returns with the armies of Scotland at his back. He crushes the armies of his younger brother.

After twenty-two years, king Konan II of Brittany retakes his throne.

True story: A game development company released a medieval dynasty game without Jews. Then, they added ahistorical empires to the game. Later, they created DLC with an Aztec Invasion. Drama ensued.

Oh wait, you were probably referring to in-game soap operas, not forum melodramas.

sosasoser said:

True story: A game development company released a medieval dynasty game without Jews. Then, they added ahistorical empires to the game. Later, they created DLC with an Aztec Invasion. Drama ensued.

Oh wait, you were probably referring to in-game soap operas, not forum melodramas.

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Did this post just go through a time warp from 2012?

It was 1453, and my Holy Roman Empire was kept together by drunkard and slothful dwarf, who could raise barely 20k troops.

This happened a while ago, so I don't remember all the names, but--
As a young man, the Doge, while not he had paid the bride price for another Italian noble wife, was bored by her and instead chose to fool around with the chambermaids, which resulted (as these things do) in a bastard daughter, who was quietly legitimized and eventually married off when she was old enough where she could do no harm. The wife, though, died young, after three legitimate children, and at the same time the Doge met the woman of his dreams. He wanted to marry her then and there, but public outrage over his lack of mourning would have been enormous. Nonetheless, they lived together completely in love for decades, and eventually he agreed to marry her on her deathbed (though she lingered a year more). The real tragedy, though, was their own son, who would have been legitimized if the Doge hadn't already lost his clout for doing so with the first one. That bastard, Iacopo, though, turned out to be the most gifted and genuinely good of all the Doge's children. Though his manner was gruff and his temper sometimes got the better of him, Iacopo Contarini was a genuinely kind, moderate and outspokenly courageous man who never once resented his siblings' exalted positions as he served as marshal. And it was his own son who became the next Doge!
EDIT: Darn it, something's up with my screenshots.

I was playing as king of Sweden and Norway, and when I went raiding with my sons, I suddenly died and the kingdom was split between these two sons. Both kings with their armies were on the same fleet, and I had control of it. Somebody started a rebellion to make me king of Norway, and my brother asked me to help him, but I refused and he couldn't do anything because his army was on my fleet
I even made a screenshot:
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558737235063200212/06C183A2891D91A8A3572808A2F27CD8BF9ECBF8/
By the way, both kings were married to their sisters. I've played the GoT mod for too long

My small kingdom of Alania was constantly attacked by the various steppe tribes that rampaged across the region. Under the rule of Queen Vardo 'the Good' the kingdom nestled along the wall of the Caucasus mountains took all the lands between the Don and the Volga, but no further. Threatened by various pagans in the north and the great Seljuk Empire to the South the Halani family had married into other Christian nations to help during war. Georgia had been invaded and destroyed by the Hashimids and the Byzantines had been expelled from Asia by the Turks.

A lone Christian Kingdom surrounded by enemies I had her siblings marry anyone powerful enough to help. The Cumans decided to invade and snuff me out forever. Looking abroad I searched for allies to help. Vardos young daughter had just been married to the son of lame Basilios Antiochos 'the Holy' and her sister had married a Holy Roman duke who had been elected Kaiser Ernst 'the Ironside.' Both Emperors immediately offered their support. Both Emperors lead their armies in person and eradicated the Cuman Invasion completely and all three armies met up at the defeated Khans capital.

After the Cumans were defeated Antiochos and Vardo became grandparents. Her beloved husband died in battle against the Cumans and despite many offers by hopeful suitors, the Queen refused to remarry. Vardos grandson grew into a promising leader, but when he had reached 17 a group of nobles disaffected with Antiochos' rule overthrew the Basilios and crowned the boy Emperor. His reign was short as Antiochos led a counter rebellion after his dethroning and had the boy ousted. After languishing in the dungeons he was sent back to his homeland and as a final parting gift had his eyes put out by 'the Holy' Emperor. The kind young boy she raised from infancy, did not live long after his homecoming. In the intervening years the Kaiser had passed away leaving no children, so there was little avenue for revenge. Inconsolable, Vardo cut ties with the Byzantines forevermore and instead looked further west for support.


Although I didnt conquer any territory while playing as Vardo, her reign was probably my favourite overall from that playthrough. My lone wolf policy payed off when the Golden Horde converted to Orthodoxy. Then I got my revenge on the Byzantines.



The North Remembers.

My wicked daughter in law tried to assassinate someone, I forget who (probably me). Her husband died while she was in prison. So I'm playing along as normal, got through a succession crisis alright. After the new King took over I randomly checked out my prison just cause it had been a while...

Mom? Is that you? Three years since I took over, really? Has it been that long? Sorry, my bad. How was the food?

Married my eldest son off and started sleeping with my daughter in law within 5 days of the marriage. All 4 of the "grandkids" weren't really grandkids.

Guess Paradox is ramping up for their new DLC, Crusader Kings 2: Keeping Up with the Karlings.

My 84 year old, possessed Dodge, which who was deeply in loves with his wife and also gave her multiple tumblings, deciding to be gay now. While speaking in tongues .... Thankfully someone put him out of his misery with some poison.

Simmy93 said:

As the proud Emperor of Britain, Brian loved his beloved wife Matilda. His daughter Princess Joanna murdered her mother, enraged the Emperor knew no other course but to take his daughter as a lover. She gave birth to a son, who when grown murdered his uncle, the heir, and inherited the Empire. And as if that were enough, as a homosexual the new incest-Emperor took his cousin Malcolm, (son of the murdered heir) as a lover.

This family was more entwined than the Habsburgs.

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My last emperor of Lithuania Sven XIII (ck2+) Married his sister and took his mother, aunt and grandmother as concubines. He had 20 children and only 7 died from inbreeding. years later it would be discovered that his mother took her half-brother/grandson as her lover and 3 of svens children were actual his uncle/nephews.

I had a succession of four or five emperors of Britannia, none of whom lasted more than a year on the throne. I had an Emperor I didn't particularly like, but two of his three sons were geniuses (thanks to some very good luck on the breeding side of things). His first son was "ambitious", and after two assassination attempts, he died. The son's plot succeeded, but he was struck by pneumonia the DAY HE TOOK THE THRONE (I like to think it was God's vengeance) and died in less than six months, to be succeeded by his infant son, who was murdered by his regent, I don't know on whose orders. He was succeeded by his Uncle, an 18 year-old homosexual non-genius with several of the deadly sins traits (he really went off the rails in the two years after his education finished). He was deposed by his brother, but luckily, he died in battle, and his heir was the 16 year-old genius younger brother who rallied all the nobles to him. He gave birth to an infant son, but died in a hunting accident shortly thereafter, and the infant ascended to the throne.

That ruler lasted until his mid-thirties when he died in a hunting accident. (Which seems to be traditional for my rulers. It seems like clicking the "organize a grand hunt" button is the same as hitting the "commit suicide" button for a depressed character.) Probably comes from all the Heirs who died in EU3 in "hunting accidents".

Byzantine Emperor, running primogeniture; My son (and heir), great stats, was suffering from illness. Let's just say his wife got a little impatient, and my 50 year old wife wasn't exactly keeping up with my lustful character in the bedroom. One thing led to another between the two, and fast forward 9 months, and the royal bastard is born. Named him after myself, and legitimized the bastard. Switched the succession laws to ultimogeniture to boot. And all the while keeping my son's wife as my mistress, oh how awkward it must have been when he came to my feasts! My pissed off former-heir, who was also a duke in Jerusalem, joined a faction against me, and civil war quickly erupted as ambitious nobles in the far reaches of my empire joined factions as well. It was bloody but short, and in the end, the conspirators were all locked away. Imprisoned my firstborn and immediately executed him, divorced my wife, and married my daughter in law before my son's body turned cold.

TL;DR - Banged daughter in law, legitimized resulting bastard and switched to ultimogeniture succession, imprisoned and executed son + divorced wife and married daughter in law
Honestly this thread is why there will never be a game I will love as much as CKII.

I'd say my best soap opera moment was the three kings of Ireland that reigned in a year.. I'll have to check their names but for now we'll call them Mael, Sachnell, and Gilla-Christ. So Mael came to the throne and died in battle with the vile Scottish in the North much to the distress of the people of Ireland. Then Sachnell came to the throne but he became depressed and very stressed under his new task of being ruler. This caused him to go insane and he began flailing around the court of the Kingdom claiming evil spirits had possessed him. This madness made him a rip target for assassination and his reign also lasted several months.

Then the great Gilla-Christ who was an imbecile. But he was a loving imbecile. He wanted nothing more but to be with his family. He married a beautiful German woman who he loved with all his heart... then she died of sickness. He became depressed over this and to cure his depression he took a little ride in a wagon through the province of Connacht. However, the mob weren't too happy with his inept rule and in the midst of his depression he was struck with an arrow to the chest from one of the mobsters and he died as well.

Mael, Sachnell, and Gilla-Christ! The 3 Kings of Ireland who reigned together for a year.

After spending his long life taking back land from western usurpers and the infidel, Basileus of the Byzantine Empire, Simeon, was 75 years old. His father had restored the pentarchy many decades ago, but internal troubles and fierce resistance from the Muslims and Italians had made the restoration of the Roman Empire a long task. Finally, though, he managed to conquer Genoa and Ferrara, the last two provinces needed for new glorious beginnings.

Unfortunately, the war gave some catholic die-hards the opportunity to come out of hiding and fan the flames of rebellion in Croatia. Their numbers weren't great, but their zealotry made them dangerous, since the local doux was a spineless cynic, who spent more time fighting his neighbours than helping his ruler.

After a longish war against the Italian king and his Karling allies, the weary Basileus decided to personally destroy the rebels as a final act as the Byzantine ruler and pave his way to the Rule of Rome with a easy victory. Riding to battle with almost 12 thousand of his finest cataprachts and the varangian guard holding the left flank, Simeon the just was struck by an arrow from the rebel ranks just minutes after the battle begun. It was his son, Simeon II, who declared himself Augustus Romanorum a few days later. The heretics were chased to the end of the earth and slain to the last.

Once my pagan king invaded Moravia and captured the Queen of Greater Moravia. Soon my king fell in love with the Queen. The king did not want to make her his concubine but neither he wanted to let her go. After several years of romance, the Queen gave birth to a daughter and her husband, for some reason, decided that the girl was his daughter. My king was heart broken let his daughter go to Moravia because he could not keep her in prison and soon the love of his life died.

On another note. If somebody is planning an immersion DLC, I really suggest returning the death during giving birth event, whcih was removed for a some very strange reason. The event was very dramatic.

An old 1.09 playthrough had my wife's lesbian lover pregnant with my son's bastard. He acknowledged the kid, so I betrothed him to his aunt. The kid's legitimate and landed brother assassinated him and was found out. My wife excommunicated him for kinslaying so I declared bishop of nowheresville Anti-Pope and excommunicated her lover. Thus began the most extreme version of family feud that the Kingdom of Burgundy ever saw.

Duke of Austria and Tirol, a great ruler,amazing stats, loved all by his vassals. His son is a charismatic military leader with a lustful wife, so everything is looking totally awesome for the dynasty. Just one problem though: too big personal demesne, decide to solve it by giving some insignificant province to a cousin who likes the ruler. Shouldn't be a problem, everyone loves him!

A few years pass and suddenly the cousin hates the duke. Also, he's now related through marriage to the duke of Bavaria, my greatest rival. This does not look good, my suspicions of foul play grow as my spymaster informs they're actually plotting to murder me!

So, I instantly react and try to imprison the ungrateful cousin who dares to insult me so. It backfires and he revolts. "I'll handle him easily", I think as I raise my levies to suppress the mutineers. I siege his pathetic castle and then the proverbial dung starts to hit the windmills.

Suddenly my duke, who's leading the army with his incredible military skills, goes and tests whether his helmet can stand a hit from an arrow. Well, it can't. He's dead with his son inheriting the throne. Short reign and other penalties everywhere, but nothing really to worry about.

The Duke of Bavaria enters the war on the side of my relative. This is starting to look a bit grim now, already hiring some mercenaries to help me out. My new duke, the Great Military Leader son of the Mighty Duke leads the army in combat, and... you guessed it: he manages to get himself killed.

Having no sons, the duchies are now inherited by... the scheming cousin! The war ends, the dynasty stays in power and I'm left thinking whether this was just insanely bad luck or had been their plan all along. Eventually the cousin's descendants became kings, so they didn't do that bad afterall.

This is the story of my king, Philip of Toulouse, who fell in love with Gilbert, prince and heir to the throne of Aquitaine. But their love sadly ended after a couple of years, when Gilbert became king of Aquitaine and the two warred over something I frankly don't even remember. Gilbert was captured and imprisoned: he never forgave Philip for this and they broke up.