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CK2 - Dev Diary #126 - Muslim Rulers in The Iron Century

Welcome to another Dev Diary! Today we are going to take a look at some of the Muslim rulers you can find in the Iron Century bookmark. (And like yesterday, keep in mind several of these rulers have randomized traits/stats)

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A look at the Muslim world at large.

al-Ikhshid of the Ikhshidid Dynasty: In our bookmark, Al-Ikhshid has recently been granted the governorship of Egypt. Though he wasn’t really supposed to have his title until the year 938, we chose to call him Al-Ikhshid as his dynasty is known as the Ikhshidid dynasty, and that is what he is generally known as. Functionally speaking, he is set up as a Sunni Sultan holding Egypt and huge parts of Syria, with tributaries to his north, south-east and south. He is bordering the Fatimids in the west, and the Jannabid Qarmatians to the east. In many ways, Al-Ikhshid and his dynasty is one of the powerhouses in the bookmark, and will most likely play an important role.

Historically speaking the Ikhshidid dynasty held Egypt for about 35 years, until they were invaded by the Fatimids who made it the capital of their newly founded Caliphate.

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Caliph Ar-Radi of the Abbasid Caliphate: In our two earliest bookmarks (769 and 867), the Abbasid Caliphate is an impenetrable powerhouse, but in 936 they have fallen apart to infighting and lost almost all their importance. As they are barely holding on to their old core lands around Baghdad, they are surrounded by threats who want to take control of the Caliphate and its lands. Ar-Radi is often seen as the last of the real Caliphs, but even his rule was cut short at the age of 31 in the year 940.

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al-Hasan of the Hamdanid dynasty: Both al-Hasan and his brother Ali hold lands in the Al-Jazira region north of the Abbasid Caliphate. They are both Shia rulers, Ali holding the western lands under his brother’s overlordship. Historically speaking al-Hasan played an important role in the politics of the Abbasid Caliphate, while his brother was essential in holding back the Byzantine attacks across the Al-’Awasim in Cilicia. They later received the titles Nasir al-Dawla and Sayf al-Dawla, under which they are better known.

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The Buyid Dynasty: The three Shia brothers of the Buyid dynasty are all playable in the 936 bookmark. Ali holds the Satrapy of Fars, Hasan holds the Satrapy of Jibal while Ahmad holds lands under Ali.


As the first of importance in the dynasty, Ali was a governor and commander under the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij (better known as the last Zoroastrian ruler). After finding out his lord was planning to eliminate him, he took his troops and established the Satrapy of Fars. After Mardavij was assassinated by his own slave troops, the Buyid dynasty was bolstered with troops and started expanding north and eastwards. Later on Ahmad would go on to become a leading figure in the Abbasid Caliphate, and start the Buyid’s century long control of the Caliphate, until they were pushed out by the Seljuks about a hundred years later.

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Vushmgir of the Ziyarid dynasty: Vushmgir is the Sunni brother of Mardavij, better known as the last major Zoroastrian ruler. Vushmgir would go on to embrace Islam, and bring his people properly into the fold. In our start he has inherited the remains of his brother's shortlived kingdom. He has several Zoroastrian vassals, and he is surrounded by greater Muslim nations at all sides. Who's to say you couldn't pick up your brother's legacy properly though, and put an end to the Muslim incursions into Zoroastrian lands.

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Caliph Abd-al-Rahman of the Umayyad dynasty: In far flung Iberia, far from the diminishing authority of the pathetic Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad, Abd-al-Rahman has established his own Caliphate. Centered around Cordoba, the Iberian Caliph is ready to challenge the Fatimids in Ifriqiya as well the French and León to the north. He would go on to create the The Caliphate of Cordoba would continue for almost a century before it shattered into lots of Taifa Successor kingdoms, which were so well known during the tumultuous times of the Reconquista.

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Hopefully you found this small little look into some of the major Muslim rulers of the bookmark interesting. Tomorrow we will take a look at some of the Pagans rulers that will play an interesting role in the bookmark.

And like always, here's a link to the ongoing AAR: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...century-mini-aar.1179523/page-2#post-25482390
 
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Two Sunni caliphs, interesting, perhaps the caliph title is now tied to the Emperor-tier?
 
And as an added bonus the last EU4 DLC is called the Golden Century, so it makes a neat contrast.
 
I'm interested in Abd-al-Rahman and Vushmgir.
 
Also, how will the Hajj work with the Kabba being held captive in another city?
 
Interesting.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's DD even more since i really enjoy Pagan comeback games.

A bit of topic but the Karijite could make use of the same setup as the Qarmatians. Meaning agreesive nature as a religion. I know it is not a very influential heresy but still.
 
I'll have to say that seeing navigatable rivers in Iberia in the last DD gave me hopes you might have reworked the region, and sure i can tell the county borders do look better, but Iberia in general still looks absolutely barren in comparison with everywhere else in Europe.
You can still fit 10 Welsh counties on around the same size as the county of Porto, despise the area corresponding to the county of Porto in the XII century having a populational density of 125% the French average.
Evora and Bragança are Africa-Tier large.
 
I guess the explanation of the new "caliph" should be copied from the earlier DD, so that people would get a clear picture.
Well, it functions as an Empire title with Caliph as a title. But it does not have the same effects as the other Caliph titles, as those are religious heads, this one isn't.
 
If the Umayyads have an empire tier I doubt much will stop then.

It"s just a titular empire that doesn't give de jure CBs, and they won't exactly be able to diplo-vassalize Christians to the north. The Reconquista and crusade mechanics should unlock shortly after 936.
 
I guess the explanation of the new "caliph" should be copied from the earlier DD, so that people would get a clear picture.

Thanks for pointing that out. An understandable choice by the devs, but a pity that it has to be like this. That doesn't do the historical/theological notion of what it means to be the Caliph justice at all. Still cool the Caliphate of Cordoba is at least represented though.
 
Tell me about the lessers. What culture is the Muslim Fatimid vassal in Sicily? What religion / culture is Cyprus and Krete?

Berber Shia or Qarmation in any of those is going to be really fun.
 
Tell me about the lessers. What culture is the Muslim Fatimid vassal in Sicily? What religion / culture is Cyprus and Krete?

Berber Shia or Qarmation in any of those is going to be really fun.

Cyprus is Berber Sunni, and start with some event ships. If you want to go raid-mode, I'd recommend them.