I will be playing in the 867 start date Duke Borc Idiqut of Karashar. He is the first Uyghur ruler of most of the Tarim basin and is one of the few Nestorian rulers in the game. Lots of challenges are sure to arise given the neighborhood. Revolts and peasant revolts are likely to be the name of the game. I am a somewhat mediocre player when I am trying, and I plan to be playing their traits, so I won’t always be trying, so expect a fair share of losses mixed in. Nothing too particular in terms of rules, have a lot of mods. I won’t be using the invite to court feature, we’ll be relying on the local talent or lack thereof.
Borc always has the traits Sympathy for Mazdan and Eastern Religions. Otherwise his stats and traits are random. This itineration sucks generally, but is good at intrigue. I’m sure a stubborn, envious, cruel person is a lot of fun to interact, though at least he’s gullible. The random number generator tells me he is the stabby type of intrigue as opposed to the seducing type. He has a strong claim on Mongolia which I don’t anticipate doing anything with. As for my wife, her best stat is a 3. And she is chaste to boot.
As for my son, he is Buddhist. The sympathy traits are also baked in. The only reason his stats are meaningfully better than his mom’s is the brilliant strategist trait.
Here are our lovely vassals. The good news is none of them are particular geniuses and most aren’t too cranky except the Count of Kumul. I can raise 1737 men while none of them can raise more than 1000. Well, except the Count of Kumul. Who controls 5 counties. And can raise slightly more men than I can. I’m sure this won’t be a problem.
Here’s the neighborhood. Mongolia is Tengri Kirgiz and likes vassalizing the Tarim Basis. Their tributary has a Nestorian vassel. To our immediate east is Han Taoist Jiuquin. And to their south is the Western Protectorate though I don’t have the Jade Dragon expansion. We share the Tarim Basin with the Buddhist Saka Dukes of Khotan and Kashgar and Tocharian Buddhist Count of Uchturpan. Guge is the grayish blue to the south of Khotan and likes to expand Tarim-ward. The Persian Sunni Samanids often also visit the neighborhood. Separated from us by mountains is the Karluk Tengri Karakhanids.
Alright lets marry our courtiers to each other. Also my son needs married. First option in marriage tab is a Karakhanid princess nearly as smart as her husband and in-laws combined. Sounds good!
Decide to spy on and plot to kill Silarakite who has no heirs. My ruler’s traits work quite nicely here with traditional CKII play technique. Chose for ambition Create a Treasury, since my ruler is envious and other ambitious didn’t really seem to fit. Did some other bureaucratic stuff and now lets unpause!
It took Silarakite a full week to start an independence faction. My spymaster gets me some tech points. Then my informants tell me Silarakite is preaching his false religion in his lands. I use this to threaten him to stay out of factions. I’m sure you will be shocked to learn his response was to laugh in my face. Cherchen joins his faction and then on February 19th comes the faction demand.
I take advantage of the most special thing about being Abrahamic, borrowing money from the Jews! Then hire some Tangut mercenaries. I get the loyalist muster event, which is 186 men I can use. I gather our men together, there is some back and forth sieging, then a battle on the shores of Lop Nor. The result was a solid victory despite a slight terrain advantage to them. Apparently the Tangut force was a mixture of archers and light cavalry, pretty easy to model this as the poor enemy forced getting pincushioned until their morale broke then mopped up by cavalry. My heavy infantry didn’t do much.
Then the Buddhist peasants rise up in Kara Khoja, 2500 of them. The peasants pay the ultimate price for poor timing in April. Meanwhile I become friends with an Uyghur Buddhist courtier by the name of Oghulbaris. I tried to sway papa Karakhanid, which just results in an argument making us like each other less. My Court Chaplain is murdered evangelizing to the peasants in October.
In December comes a second battle with the rebels. Some bad rolls turn it ugly, my flanks get broken and a lot of infantry cut down. My son gets to be the hero of the day though and we win. On another note his current ambition is to learn to abstain from Excesses of the Flesh. Which is exactly what we need as a 2-person dynasty. *heavy sarcasm*
One more siege and battle and it is over. Capture in battle a commander. Hang him. Now I am known as “the Butcher”. You hang just *1* traitor and that is what they call you… On August 10, 869 the rebels surrender. Cherchen and Silarakite still have no heirs. They both get burnt at the stake. Which apparently was a tyrannical thing to do. Cherchen’s lands go to my friend Oghulbaris. As for Silarakite’s, 1 goes to my son, 1 to my favorite courtier, who turns out to be a 14-year-old called Qutlugh, who is my first cousin once removed, other three are added to the royal domesne. My three new vassels are all Buddhist Uyghurs. I celebrate peace with a plot to murder the Count of Mingoi who has no male heir. Here is the map with the battles/sieges and territorial redistribution:
Borc always has the traits Sympathy for Mazdan and Eastern Religions. Otherwise his stats and traits are random. This itineration sucks generally, but is good at intrigue. I’m sure a stubborn, envious, cruel person is a lot of fun to interact, though at least he’s gullible. The random number generator tells me he is the stabby type of intrigue as opposed to the seducing type. He has a strong claim on Mongolia which I don’t anticipate doing anything with. As for my wife, her best stat is a 3. And she is chaste to boot.
As for my son, he is Buddhist. The sympathy traits are also baked in. The only reason his stats are meaningfully better than his mom’s is the brilliant strategist trait.
Here are our lovely vassals. The good news is none of them are particular geniuses and most aren’t too cranky except the Count of Kumul. I can raise 1737 men while none of them can raise more than 1000. Well, except the Count of Kumul. Who controls 5 counties. And can raise slightly more men than I can. I’m sure this won’t be a problem.
Here’s the neighborhood. Mongolia is Tengri Kirgiz and likes vassalizing the Tarim Basis. Their tributary has a Nestorian vassel. To our immediate east is Han Taoist Jiuquin. And to their south is the Western Protectorate though I don’t have the Jade Dragon expansion. We share the Tarim Basin with the Buddhist Saka Dukes of Khotan and Kashgar and Tocharian Buddhist Count of Uchturpan. Guge is the grayish blue to the south of Khotan and likes to expand Tarim-ward. The Persian Sunni Samanids often also visit the neighborhood. Separated from us by mountains is the Karluk Tengri Karakhanids.
Alright lets marry our courtiers to each other. Also my son needs married. First option in marriage tab is a Karakhanid princess nearly as smart as her husband and in-laws combined. Sounds good!
Decide to spy on and plot to kill Silarakite who has no heirs. My ruler’s traits work quite nicely here with traditional CKII play technique. Chose for ambition Create a Treasury, since my ruler is envious and other ambitious didn’t really seem to fit. Did some other bureaucratic stuff and now lets unpause!
It took Silarakite a full week to start an independence faction. My spymaster gets me some tech points. Then my informants tell me Silarakite is preaching his false religion in his lands. I use this to threaten him to stay out of factions. I’m sure you will be shocked to learn his response was to laugh in my face. Cherchen joins his faction and then on February 19th comes the faction demand.
I take advantage of the most special thing about being Abrahamic, borrowing money from the Jews! Then hire some Tangut mercenaries. I get the loyalist muster event, which is 186 men I can use. I gather our men together, there is some back and forth sieging, then a battle on the shores of Lop Nor. The result was a solid victory despite a slight terrain advantage to them. Apparently the Tangut force was a mixture of archers and light cavalry, pretty easy to model this as the poor enemy forced getting pincushioned until their morale broke then mopped up by cavalry. My heavy infantry didn’t do much.
Then the Buddhist peasants rise up in Kara Khoja, 2500 of them. The peasants pay the ultimate price for poor timing in April. Meanwhile I become friends with an Uyghur Buddhist courtier by the name of Oghulbaris. I tried to sway papa Karakhanid, which just results in an argument making us like each other less. My Court Chaplain is murdered evangelizing to the peasants in October.
In December comes a second battle with the rebels. Some bad rolls turn it ugly, my flanks get broken and a lot of infantry cut down. My son gets to be the hero of the day though and we win. On another note his current ambition is to learn to abstain from Excesses of the Flesh. Which is exactly what we need as a 2-person dynasty. *heavy sarcasm*
One more siege and battle and it is over. Capture in battle a commander. Hang him. Now I am known as “the Butcher”. You hang just *1* traitor and that is what they call you… On August 10, 869 the rebels surrender. Cherchen and Silarakite still have no heirs. They both get burnt at the stake. Which apparently was a tyrannical thing to do. Cherchen’s lands go to my friend Oghulbaris. As for Silarakite’s, 1 goes to my son, 1 to my favorite courtier, who turns out to be a 14-year-old called Qutlugh, who is my first cousin once removed, other three are added to the royal domesne. My three new vassels are all Buddhist Uyghurs. I celebrate peace with a plot to murder the Count of Mingoi who has no male heir. Here is the map with the battles/sieges and territorial redistribution:
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