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Hello there! Today we are going to talk about some of the remaining rulers (you know, that are neither Christian nor Muslim) you can find in the Iron Century bookmark.

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The situation in the rest of the world.

Eirik Bloodaxe: Previous king of Norway, known for murdering his brothers. He was pushed out by the Norwegian nobility and replaced by Hakon the Good (see the Dev Diary about Recommended Rulers). Situated in the northern stretches of Scotland with his army and fleet, Bloodaxe is in many ways posed to strike in any direction. Much like Haesteinn in the 867 bookmark, I am sure we will see some interesting Bloodaxe playthroughs not long after you guys get your hands on the bookmark.

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Lestek Piast of Poland: Forefather of more well known rulers such as Mieszko and Boleslav the Brave, he still plays an important role in the local Polish politics as one of the strongest rulers of the region. Though the Polish eventually turned to Christianity under Mieszko (which is actually alive as the grandson of Lestek in the bookmark, as is his father Siemomysl), who’s to say you can’t bring Poland into a more interesting turn of events? Bordering the other Slavic tribes, as well as Otto in the west and Bohemia in the south is sure to bring an interesting playthrough nonetheless.

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Gorm the Old of Denmark: At 59 years old, his nickname is certainly fitting. Father of the more well known ruler Harald ‘Bluetooth’, he is the king of Denmark in the bookmark. He borders some Swedish tribes on his eastern front in Scania (which is held by his bastard son Valtoke), and Otto of Germany to the south. His son Harald would later go on to rule both Denmark and partly Norway, after the death of the Norwegian king Harald Greycloak.

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Yngar/Igor of Kievan Rus: After the death of Rurik, Helge/Oleg expanded the influence of the kingdom and they are left with a massive kingdom from Holmgard/Novgorod in the north and all the way down to Kønugård/Kiev in the south. However, Yngvar/Igor is growing old and his hold over his vassals are tenuous at best. If peace and their loyalty can be secured, however, you sit with a potential powerhouse ready to take control of the eastern stretches of Europe. You only need to beat back the Pechenegs, the Khazars and every Russian vassal who look at you a bit shifty-eyed. I am sure it’ll be fine!

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Historically speaking, the 10th century is when you saw a proper shift towards Christianity across the map. The Russians turned to Orthodoxy, while the Scandinavian, Hungarian and Polish lords turned to Catholicism. But who ever accused us of having a historical game after you click the start button, right? Now then, to turn a bit eastwards.

Cao Yuande of the Guiyi: Cao Yuande is second ruler of Guiyi Circuit, having inherited his realm from his long ruling father Cao Yin. Guiyi is a small outpost of Han people, surrounded by nomads or stronger realms. Fortunately you start the game allied with the powerful kingdom of Khotan and the Uyghurs at your eastern border. It will be challenge, but turning your kingdom into an empire is not an impossible task.

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Khagan Deguang of the Liao Dynasty: Duguang, or Taizong, of the Liao became involved in Chinese internal strife during the Ten Kingdoms period. Eventually Taizong declared himself as emperor of China but was unable to keep his throne. With two other nomadic realms starting as their tributaries, the Liao dynasty is in a strong position to spread their influence across the map.

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Makan Kakinid of Dihistan: Makan was involved in various dynastic struggles in Tabaristan, always willing to fight anyone. Despite being defeated by the Ziyarids twice, he always managed to bounce back. Eventually Makan turned against his protectors, the Samanids, and was killed for his troubles. Perhaps you can be more succesful than the historical Makan?

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Tomorrow we'll go through some decisions and bloodlines added in The Iron Century. As well as the announcing the release date of the Bookmark.

And here's a link to the ongoing AAR: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...century-mini-aar.1179523/page-2#post-25485539
 
Bloodaxe as the new Haesteinn? Challenge accepted.

Do I see new negative genetic trait on Igor Rurikid, or is it (otherwise hidden) trait for freckles?
It looks like the smallpox trait, but with a blue background - so I'd guess it is something along the lines of pox-scarred.
 
Thank you for doing all of this free stuff, you have been good to us.
 
Bloodaxe as the new Haesteinn? Challenge accepted.


It looks like the smallpox trait, but with a blue background - so I'd guess it is something along the lines of pox-scarred.

It's an observer-only trait for Freckles. As I use Observer mode when taking these pictures, it pops up when it usually wouldn't.
 
If Harald Blåtand is a grown man does that mean that Styrbjörn Starke (the Strong) is alive in this bookmark? Who rules at Upsala? It should be his father Olof right? Or is it Styrbjörns grandfather (who's name I got to admit I don't remember)?

Ok Styrbjörn being born in 936 would make him 49 at Fýrisvellir which is clearly older than he actually was but come on Paradox, you can't just miss the birth of one of the greatest heroes of the viking age. Bump Styrbjörn backwards a few years.
 
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Oh even better to see Bloodaxe starts with his domain up in the northern Scotland, but as others mentioned above, I think he lacks Kinslayer trait, which would give him accurate description.
 
I am a bit sad Gorm the Old, who raised one of the Jelling stones, does not start with Jelling in his demesne. I guess this is just the old dejure logic rearing its head again? IE, putting his capital in Jelling would just result in him moving it to Sjælland after unpausing anyway.
 
Cao Yuande of the Guiyi: Cao Yuande is second ruler of Guiyi Circuit, having inherited his realm from his long ruling father Cao Yin. Guiyi is a small outpost of Han people, surrounded by nomads or stronger realms. Fortunately you start the game allied with the powerful kingdom of Khotan and the Uyghurs at your eastern border. It will be challenge, but turning your kingdom into an empire is not an impossible task.

Wikipedia says Cao Yuande's father is Cao Yijin(曹議金), and Yijin's original name was Rengui(仁貴). Where did the name Cao Yin came from? Are there any other sources you looked up?
 
His stats and traits are set. For some reason he keeps losing tribal kinslayer, even though I've fixed this particular problem several times already.
I had that happen to me with one of my mods, I can't quite recall why though...

She's the granddaughter of the ruler of Semien.
How about some other Grandchildren, namely Styrbjörn Sveakämpe and Svenn Tveskägg? You could add DHE for them atleast :)
 
His stats and traits are set. For some reason he keeps losing tribal kinslayer, even though I've fixed this particular problem several times already.
Maybe you need to make Bloodaxe the actual murderer of his brothers in the history files for it to work? Perhaps the trait doesn't show because he hasn't any victims in his kill-list. I can see that his siblings have white skulls, aka "Natural death", when they should have red skulls, aka murdered by him.

(This kinda annoys me for a lot of in-game characters who historically died in a lot more interesting ways than "natural death" at 20 years old.)
 
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Khagan Deguang of the Liao Dynasty
As others have stated please change the Liao dynasty name to Yelü and name their Nomad realm Liao instead.

Also, while outside the scope of 936, make similar changes to the rulers of Kara-Khitai and merge their houses.
Disable Khitan culture's "name realm after dynasty" feature.

I've discussed this at length in a suggestion thread.

Liao Dynasty

House Liao holds the Kingdom of Mongolia between 1066 and about 1100. With Horse Lords enabled they gain the titular Empire of Mongolia, which is referred to in game as the Liao Khaganate since the Khitan culture names their realms after dynasty in game.

Their rulers:

Liao Zongzhen of Mongolia [Liao]
Liao Hongji of Mongolia [Liao]
Liao Yanxi of Mongolia [Liao]


Kara Khitai

Starting in about 1140, the Kingdom of Transoxiana is held by house Kara-Khitai. With Horse Lords enabled they gain the titular Empire of Transoxiana, which is referred to in game as the Kara-Khitai Khaganate for the same reasons as stated above.

Their rulers:

Kara-Khitai “Yelü-Dashi” of Transoxiana [Kara-Khitai]
Kara-Khitai “Yelü-Yillie” of Transoxiana [Kara-Khitai]
Kara-Khitai “Yelü-Zhilugu” of Transoxiana [Kara-Khitai]


Obviously this is the setup created with Horse Lords before China and the difference between dynasty names and clan names had been introduced. Perhaps this sort of crude solution was the only one possible. However, it's about time it gets addressed.

Fix for the Liao, Yelü, Kara-Khitai debaucle:
  1. Attach Yelü-Dashi of house Kara-Khitai to the secondary branch house Liao (creating a few filler characters if necessary).
  2. Remove the first part of the double names for all former members of house Kara-Khitai if the double name starts with “Yelü”.
  3. Rename house of Liao to house of Yelü. Delete the empty house of Kara-Khitai.
  4. Remove “Uses dynasty name as realm title” from Khitan culture
  5. Either:
    1. Let Mongolia be called Khitan under a Khitan ruler.
    2. Give all Khitan members of Mongolia a titular kingdom called Liao instead.
  6. Give Yelü Dashi and all his decedents a titular empire called Kara-Khitai instead of Transoxiana.