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It wouldn't be CK without a nice spot of intra-familiar homicide. :) Perhaps it's payback for your efforts to have the Welsh witches kill that poor little boy...

You have a son named 'Klaoda', by the way? I'd be mad at my parents too, if I were stuck with such a rubbish name. :p

Of course always need the fatricide (think that's what its called?) makes for fun days. And you know you may be onto something about those Welsh witches. I did give happy Klaoda that County where they reside, so I'm pretty sure this is payback for doing that to him.

But Klaoda is Ricat's half-brother, he was born when Dumnarth died, so Queen Dub was the one that named him. But he may just be taking out some of the pent up childhood anger on me.

But anyways to digress a little I got sidetracked with all my other games when I started up SoA the other day for the first time and discovered this random ass Count something von Osterzoozle or something like that in England (he's a Dutch boy) at the William the Conqueror start date (or whatever the bookmark is called for after Billy's conquering of the England). It was a hilariously quick playthrough that resulted in a game over in 15 years :)

But highly suggest someone check that count out. In fact its the first Game Over I've ever experienced in CKii...still kind of scratching my head about that one.
 
Close it's fratricide, also establishing the Dutch Kingdom of England sounds fun
 
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Part 1.8 - Wales

@Morosaurus: Oh yeah forgot the "R"...A Dutch Kingdom of England would be quite hilarious though.

But now unto our final chapter of the Welsh adventure.



Part 1.8 - Wales​



So half-brother Klaoda decided to piss me off earlier and rebel. See the bad thing with a small Kingdom like Wales or Croatia or you know those little Kingdoms with 8 to 9 Counties, well when one Duke says FU player, all of sudden there goes 1/3 of your realm just pooof!

So I'm guessing when playing in these tiny places it probably would be smart to raise up midas touched rulers. That way they have a HUGE demesne limit and can just hold the whole of Wales together without any vassals, well except for some Bishops and Mayors and perhaps a baron...

But anyways I digress, our war however is once again going forward rather well.

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While my armies are moving around chasing the remainder of Klaoda's men around Wales while another group starts laying siege, I get a notification that reminded me that my Chaplain was actually converting people.

In fact my Chaplain did what no other Chaplain before managed to do. Brigacos bless his heart had attempted this feat from the various prisons he was thrown in. But this Chaplain some Irishman I had appointed (not about to spell it) had somehow managed to convert the grandson of Halfdan.

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So seeing that Jorvik/York is going to be ruled by a Catholic Norwegian, and with luck the populace there will convert as well. It seems Catholicism in the Isles has been almost saved. Except there is a minor Danish incursion going on in what used to be Scotland. The place has splintered and is slowly being overrun by the united Danish Vikings.

I will say this though I was more happy about seeing the conversion of Jorvik than forming Wales.

That's when I decide to send this Chaplain off to Galloway to convert the local pagan ruler there. I mean hell he converted Jorvik's King he should be able to deal with a little Count right? Wrong!

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My Chaplain apparently was threatened to be defrocked by his fellow clergy for leaving the righteous path set out by Chaplain-Bishop Brigacos and his pilgrimage through the Norse dungeons.

Fighting Klaoda continues when a pop up from our friendly neighborhood Breton Kaiser appears apparently wanting me to join a few of his wars. You see being a Breton Kaiser, overlord of German and Italians, results in a constant state of Civil War. You thought the HRE had issues when it was just Germans and Italians...try seeing a Breton Kaiser over there, the result is scary.

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I will admit I am happy I don't have boats. One of these wars I just joined is against some Duke of Latium that actually has the Dragon nickname. No idea how you get that one, but I have never gotten it before and anyone named the Dragon ought to be a badass. Or well hell...

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Guess badass isn't the right way to call this Duke of Latium. And now my thinking the Dragon is a cool name worthy of worldwide respect has come to an end for it seems this dragon is mediocre at best.

Back now to Wales and Klaoda. For horrid horrid news that made me want to punch random shit, and laugh at the same time. All the while Klaoda was rebelling I had forgotten of that sinister plot founded by Briac, my son. Remember he wanted to kill his brother (my eldest son) Dumnarth. At the time Dumnarth was in my court chilling smokin the reefer with his old buddies you know doing what most 18 to 19 year old bastards do while living in their parents basement.

Then I gave Dumnarth his own house in Gwenydd. Which made all hell literally break lose. You see now that he was no longer in my basement, he didn't have a bunch of people around that pretended to like him. In fact he had a lot of people that hated him now. Which meant Briac was finally able to get enough plotters to join his attempt to rid the world of Dumnarth.

And rid the world of Dumnarth he did.

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Let this be a lesson to all parents out there, never kick the pot smoker in your basement out, because if you do his mildly more successful brother may kill him.

The question now is who would inherit Dumnarth's lands I had given him. Well my grandson Karadeg in fact he is the second of that name to grace the Duchy of Gwenydd.

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Not only does Karadeg inherit Gwenydd but I name him my heir. I know he's only 0 years old and everything and hell probably going to be killed by Briac anyway, but he is my grandson and had we have had primo he'd be my heir anyway so might as well embrace him.

Besides not like the AI will elect him anyway when we leave in a few more years.

Finally, the war against Klaoda is ended and he enters our prison.

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I revoke one of his counties and hand it over to the grandson Karadeg, and than retract one of his vassals as well and hand him over to Karadeg as well turning Klaoda into a one county Duke.

Apparently King Ricat Cerneu is rather depressed about the passing of his eldest son, because this event pops up.

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More on Glen later, needless to say I don't really see how anyone could be worse then Dumnarth. Dumnarth stats in game were abysmal to begin with so why Ricat would say his sons are no where near as capable is beyond me. And poor Glen probably just became Craven. Poor guy isn't even in Wales right now. Think he's in Orleans trying his best to make babies (although he is a homosexual) I'd discover that later. So he's really playing around with his French stablehands and squires rather than making babies with his Duchess wife.

Like I said more on Glen later because after we leave we will discover something about him.

My grandson Karadeg apparently has some sadness regarding Klaoda's imprisonment because the now 1 or 2 year old boy duke requests us to give Klaoda clemency.

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I agree and release Klaoda slapping him on the back and telling him not to try anymore funny business like throwing my grandson from some random rooftop somewhere.

Which is when King Ricat falls ill. Yep he's sick and now we're leaving Wales behind. So much for me trying to leave a stable powerful Wales for the AI. It seems instead I'm leaving a mess.

A sick King, with elective succession who's half-brother the Duke of Deheubarth is probably all sorts of pissy at us, a little boy who has no hope for success as Duke of Gwenydd. Yep England might as well just take over Wales and be done with us.

Oh well.

So here are some maps to show what is now going on in the world come the year 917.

But first a final picture of King Ricat.

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The Isles are a mess right now. Denmark seems poised to capture most of Scotland. England is in the ascendancy, the Stawell Kings are destined to unify all the de jure lands I am sure, especially now that Jorvik is Catholic. And over in Ireland it seems that Munster is in a good position to one day rule all of Ireland. Whether they succeed or not is anybody's guess but they seem to have a good position for such a thing.

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In Northern Europe things seem to be going smoothly I guess. Gardiki or whatever that is has been formed (I suppose this is pagan Rus?). As well as Sweden which will probably spell the end for Norway. And Denmark seems to be the most expansionistic state at the moment in that neighborhood.

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Here's the bulk of Europe. The Ummayads took Aquitaine which will spark the first Crusade. For a little while the Kingdom of Aquitaine owned almost all but a few duchies of West Francia before it splintered. I hate seeing the fighting between WF and Aquitaine, because it means the Ummayads will be able to swallow more lands soon.

The Breton ruled HRE is seeing its share of rebellions, which isn't surprising. I think it will be funny if the Breton Emperors survive and replace their rebellious lords with Breton Dukes. So we could end up seeing a Breton Germany/Italy, but we will have to wait and see how that unfolds over the next few generations.

Greater Moravia seems to be one of the more successful non Karling European Catholic states. Never seen them survive in the TOG campaign so seeing them still in existence is rather pleasing.

And well there is the Hungarians they seriously need to make their borders look prettier because its aggravating me...

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See what I mean about Hungary?

Bulgaria is doing fairly well also and the ERE hasn't imploded so all is well on that front. Personally I would love to see Bulgaria grow stronger so perhaps they'll expand a bit against the ERE or pagans.

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Nothing to really say about this one besides Abyssinia having lasted for 50 years which rarely happens in the 1066 start. Oh and notice Baghdad down in Oman...and remember that, it will be important in a few more minutes.

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Here is our religious mapmode of the world. I don't have much to say about this besides...Pagans and Islam haven't yet taken over the heart of Catholicism!

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And now for a better shot of the ERE, Bulgaria and rest of the Middle East. Apparently the Abbassids are on an invasion of Armenia and currently beating the ERE. Cilicia apparently gained independence or something a while back, no idea why or how but yeah.

Anyways about the Abbassids I don't know much about what's been going on over here all I know is that our next stop is....

Baghdad! No not the Caliph but rather the deposed Caliph, Emir Aarif the Cruel of Baghdad.

Should be an interesting time, especially since it's the first time I've ever played a Muslim!
 
So Baghdad is two little smudges (one actually in Iraq, the other at the beach in Oman) that defile the clean borders of the massive Abbasids? Sounds like a fun place to be. :p

What can I say about Wales? You tried really hard, but in the end you couldn't hold off the forces of chaos. I think it'll be fun to watch the whole place fall apart in the next few years - well, fun for me, perhaps not as entertaining for you, after all your struggles. ;)
 
I know it's often considered gamey, but you gotta swear fealty to either the Abbasids or the Saffarids, cause you are in a de jure nightmare world. And since Muslims can declare conquest war whenever, swearing fealty won't hinder expansion at all.

Remember, keep an eye on decadence. If your sons are on your council they won't generate any, so it doesn't hurt to try and specialize them. And don't land or marry them unless absolutely necessary (like you want one to move up in succession). Don't land brothers, throw them in prison if there isn't a spot on the council for them.
 
@Stuyvesant: Yeah it looks like a promising place...well fun anyway. But yeah to be honest I look forward to seeing what happens with Wales as well. I think I made some mistakes such as switching to Elective. But oh well. Wales may not be stable and may very well disintegrate but I think the legacy I will have left was the spreading of the Cerneu family. They're so spread out I dare say we will run into them again.

~~~~~~​

@verdas: Yeah I am in a nightmare world in Baghdad. Swearing fealty would probably be a good idea though, that way I can work to reclaim the Caliphate and Badshah of Arabia later down the road. But we shall see. And thanks for the pointers on how to deal with decadence because I don't have clue! And the Abbassids have pretty rough decadence.

~~~~~~​

@mike the knight: It was awesome seeing Jorvik convert! I think that will now be my game plan in the future against the hordes send missionaries to proselytize and pray for a chance conversion. Might be gamey in a way but it can save you! But yeah Baghdad does look desperate...

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@dredcor: Haha yeah being smothered is a good description for what's going on there! At least we have Oman to run away too should the Caliph decide he wants his city back :)

~~~~~~​

I don't know what my goals should be for Baghdad...I guess reclaiming my usurped titles of Caliph and Badshah of Arabia would be awesome. And from there I don't know...maybe slap around some Byzzies and Persians...

We shall see. May have the first update of the Baghdad game up tomorrow if I'm feeling like it.
 
Oh man, I didn't realize you were an Abbasid; there's only going to be so much you personally can do then, since the AI family branches will be just awful and out of your control, especially with an empire-tier title (decadence gain scales with level of crown). Ways to decrease it include Holy Wars (don;t see much of a chance for that) and Ramadan celebrations, but again no matter how well you do your decadence will probably continually rise. That invasion actually should cut it some. Cross your fingers for a crusade to defend against!

At least on the bright side you have some pretty wealthy lands.
 
@verdas: Yeah the AI gets to control the old decadence thing. Which is bad for me. Oh well it will be fun playing as an independent former Caliph in Baghdad.

@sirrichard: Amazingly enough it is my first time as a Muslim. In fact I have all the DLCs and I have never played as an Orthodox, Pagan or Republic either...so. Only played as feudal Catholics so far. So I'm pretty sure I'll end up screwing this Baghdad turn up pretty good!

@Morosaurus: I hope it is!


Speaking of which I probably should get to work on updating this....
 
Part 2.0 - Baghdad

Part 2.0 - Baghdad​



So as promised we are visiting Baghdad. Some weird independent emirate ruled over by a disgraced and deposed former Caliph/Badshah Emir Aarif the Cruel of the Abbasid Dynasty. Now as mentioned before I've never played as a Muslim so hopefully this gives me a chance to learn some of the mechanics of them for future uses. But I do have mention one little thing that made me seriously think about cheating the newly minted random button...(yep this is also my first time playing with SoA on).

Why did I think about cheating the random choice?

Not due to tactical reasons or anything, but seeing Baghdad pop up as my next nation damn near gave me flashbacks. Its one of the few very very few places on the CKII map that I have been to in the real world. And with that said spent plenty of time in.

I deployed to that wonderful little place called Iraq. In fact the little outpost my unit was at was a little ways from Baghdad, about a 20 to 40 minute drive if there weren't any suspected IED presents laying about on the road. Or any random goats and sheep clogging the roads.

So I became rather familiar with the Iraqis, and the Euphrates river (it has some of the weirdest damned fish I've ever seen in it). So if I accidentally digress in the writing of these updates to umm you know random talks about the disgusting traits of camel spiders, and the weird way camels just sit and look at you, and other various experiences I've had in the wonderful lands outside of Baghdad I do apologize. Just random things a 15 month tour as an American soldier in hostile territory has seen and heard and experienced. I will try not digress and ramble on like I am right now though.

Now, back to Emir Aarif the Cruel.

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Before I hit the play button I look at a few things but I do accidentally forget to neglect who Aarif is trying to assassinate. Someone may randomly somewhere down the road I don't know.

Apparently we are in two different wars. One helping my uncle the dude who threw me off my lofty throne of being head bad ass of the Abbasid Empire and the Prophet's heir as Caliph. I'm apparently part of his invasion of Armenia against the ERE.

The second war, I do not know who its against, and that my friends is a problem. I didn't even click on it to find out at that moment while playing.

In future always remember find out who you're fighting as its extremely hard fighting a war if you don't know who you're fighting against.

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I then hit play, still not really sure what the hell is going on with this Muslim interface or anything. Just assuming it can't be a whole lot different than the Christian thing. And besides decadence is only 50% is that high low average??? Who knows I'm just rolling with it...

Immediately after I hit play I get Son of Abraham(ed). Apparently because those Ummayads took Aquitaine his Holiness now gets Crusades.

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This makes me begin to wonder if the Crusade is coming my direction. But I get zero time to wonder about such a thing as pop up after pop up after flippin pop-up pops up not so much like kernels of popcorn in the microwave, announcing each and every damned Christian Holy Order. And there are a lot. Way too many for me to screenshot because if I did over 25% of the screenshots for this update would be....

Holy fucking Orders!

And you know what the Pope is going to do right? He's going to sick all of these holy orders on the Muslims. OP Crusades I'm thinking, but oh well. Enough complaining because, well...

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They're going for Aquitaine so who cares.

I then hear that one of my wives is prego, which I dare say I may getting a shit ton of pops up declaring Aarif's spectacular libido with each of his many wives. So no screenshot for those either, just in case.

That's when I decide to take my armies that have thus far just been chilling along the banks of the Euphrates, and send them North to give the Emperor of the ERE some hell.

I know this is helping a Caliph that should be a mortal enemy but I want the Abbasids to prosper as well because it will be Aarif's someday soon. He is the Cruel after all.

My armies clash for a while like a month or so and destroy the Emperors army.

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While Aarif is off fighting the byzzies his wife dies in childbirth. So far in the first couple minutes of my first time playing SoA I get to experience some of the new joys of life. Dying wives abandoning their screaming bundles of flesh to their greiving hubbies, Crusades starting a century and a half too early, oh and shit tons of Holy Orders choosing one month in one random year to just materialize out of thin air.

I'm ranting again, but dying wives in labor is something that I will enjoy.

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Unfortunately she gave us a son which I understand is bad for decadence? If so I wish there was an option to feed screaming bundle of flesh to the camel...but I guess that may be more of an Aztec ritual.

I then get the joy of discovering who that one war was against. I was wondering why I didn't know where to send my troops. Apparently it was some host trying to steal Mosul from me. I've flown over Mosul, to be honest I should have just given it to that guy.

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Which is when my brother Sheikh Abdul decides he wants to be independent, and no doubt probably wants to be Caliph/Badshah as well. So one mysterious war ends in exchange for another war, I'm guessing this is going to be a trend.

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I pause for a few minutes I needed a damn smoke break...

When I return I found a new wife, fittingly with the last name of Hussayn...spelled differently I know, but I'm slowly starting to understand why this place is called Paradox Interactive.

Wonder if Ms. Hussayn is the digital ancestor of one Saddam? Hmmm.....

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The peasants decide it'd be a whole lot of fun to ride their camels through the Arabian desert to try and sack Baghdad with my brother Abdul. Seeing this war is going to go pretty bad for me I decide to call in the cavalry...of camels...mostly my uncle because we all know my former enemy and archrival will help...

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I've seen things sewn up in a belly of a dead camel before, but never an Emir, it was usually things that were supposed to go BOOM! but for whatever reason didn't. Like the one day we were having a battalion run across our little floating bridge that connected our unit's main base to a little outpost on the opposite side of the Euphrates. Well a dead cow at us pretty quick...everyone took off sprinting as hard as they could too, because well everyone knew it had a bomb in it. Poor dead cow didn't blow up though, it just clanged really loud against the bridge, weirdest damned sound I've ever heard, it then proceeded to sink below and pop back up on the other side.

Said dead cow was recovered too, had some explosives in it, but fortunately didn't go BOOM! otherwise I wouldn't be writing right now. So sewing things up inside dead camels carcasses is a time honored tradition in Baghdad.

After being threatened to be sewn up inside a camel I discover that my help fighting the ERE for said camel necrophiliac uncle of mine was apparently victorious and now added most of Armenia to his vast tracts of land.

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Which apparently upset some of the people of the Caliphate. Because apparently I have Loyalists.

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I think the AI just has a hard on for making me never want to touch a Muslim nation again. I can see this "ultimatum" turning into a ROFstomping of our little Emirate. And for what? I'm not ready to fight that behemoth. The AI just wants to screw with me for all the times I screwed with it. Like converting the GH before they swallowed Eastern Europe.

Paradox then knew at that point I needed some comic relief. Needed to chuckle a little so I wouldn't flip the bird and move on.

Up pops this...

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Apparently my Grand Vizier is preparing to be an American CEO or something, he makes people happy by merely giving them half of a day off work. How sweet. I really did laugh when I got that. And made me remember some of the Iraqis that worked on our base. Like the one barber that used to cut my hair over there for two to five dollars.

Moving on though, remember that war with my brother Abdul? Well I marched my armies down south to attack his forces that were sieging this little province in Oman's neighborhood. When I got there to lift the siege that little camel turd turned his armies around and marched them all the way through the damned desert (stopped in Mecca first of course) and then to our main holdings in Baghdad. I then lifted the siege and began the long several month long march to chase them out of those lands.

By the time I got there things weren't looking good.

And when the battle occured shit went south quick.

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I pull my forces back at that point and start licking my wounds and searching for a merc regiment to hire to achieve some payback. When the AI once more decides to play a trick on me, AFTER I hire some mercs.

You see apparently Abdul had leprosy, and Abdul proceeded to die, ending Abdul's quest for independence from Baghdad.

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I therefore spent all that money on mercenaries that well were pointless. And spent a long long time wandering the deserts for no reason at all.

That is when I decided to take a time out and look at the history thing of the Caliphate.

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Apparently the Caliph my evil uncle has died and my cousin is now ruling. He's a little boy and I'm sure that means I can figure out a way to take what is rightfully mine back. Unfortunately I'm not a vassal so I can't start a faction. So I elect to do the whole killing of babes thing. I am "the Cruel" after all. But I'm still only third in line to inherit so I'll have to slaughter two babies to get what is rightfully mine.

Which shortly afterwards is when another pop-up appears on the screen informing me of yet another ultimatum demanding I become the Caliph again. I decide that this is mere AI trickery going on. The last ultimatum resulted in absolutely nothing! So there is no possible way this get's ugly or I am peacefully given my old titles back. I think I'm just being sent some subliminal message that my position in Baghdad is not going to last very long.

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Seeing how this is going I decide to observe Ramadan for the first time in since arriving in Baghdad. I figure it's the right thing to do and a good place to end this update. Its now been six years and 0 accomplishments. And thus far not one year of peace.

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One wonders what the next couple of years will bring us...​
 
@mike the knight: Yeah apparently some AI people like me enough.

@WingedLion14: Thank you...it was quite the experience to say the least.
 
Part 2.1 - Baghdad & the Abbasid Empire

Part 2.1 - Baghdad & the Abbasid Empire​



I left us during the Ramadan celebration. It's a set up much like the Christian feast thing. Just different events here and there. Basically it helps us lower some decadence so that's a big plus. All Abbasid rulers need to get together and hold Ramadan celebrations as often as possible so that decadence level can fall a lot. But the AI would never help me in such a thing.

However during Ramadan I find out I've accomplished the ambition to increase Diplomacy skill.

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I then get a notification that some guy I plotted to kill for planning an invasion of Tigris or Mosul or something like that was officially dead.

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Now remember that Crusade for Aquitaine the wonderful Pope of Rome had called for in the previous update. The one where I was complaining about all the Holy Orders magically appearing in a period of one month.

Well the Crusade against the Ummayads is officially over and the Knights of Santiago won.

When I saw this I was like...hmmm interesting Knights of Santiago will be ruling Aquitaine!

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But no.

Something even more entertaining happened. It appears the Crusade was to reclaim the Duchy of Aquitaine...the kingdom still persists mostly as a OPM (in EU terms) but there's the product of a marriage from back when we were Wales.

Apparently the true victor of the Crusade was none other than the Cerneu Family. Yes, a Cerneu is now all of a sudden the Duke of Aquitaine.

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I'm actually happy about this. It means my gameplan as the Cerneus in Wales worked and is still alive and well.

However, this being Baghdad thing isn't going anywhere near as good. I still haven't gotten my feet on the ground here.

Why would I say such a thing? Well being the Emir of Baghdad I was hoping to one day take the Caliphate. Now remember those few pop ups from the previous update about a group of supporters presenting the little baby Caliph with an ultimatum to abdicate in favor of me?

Apparently out of the blue, completely out of thin air, I for some reason become Caliph.

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So I inherit the former Caliph's wars...go figure. I call forth the levies and begin marching towards the Hashimids. Right around six months to seven months after being named Caliph/Badshah of the Abbasids, Caliph Aarif the Cruel dies in battle.

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The new Caliph is Aarif's son Najib. Seeing how this is going to go I immediately request a white peace against one of the people we're fighting to end some of the wars that are going on.

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We still have the Hashimid war going on as they're trying to get independence or put someone else on the throne. I can't remember which it was but it doesn't matter so much.

Then apparently I get the joy of adding two decadence points to the already growing Abbasid decadence score, because I'm not a fan of justice.

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At least Najib is shooting to be just as cruel as his daddy.

Another war fires off.

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I am really beginning to wonder if I will ever experience any peace while playing here.

But luckily I manage to end the Hashimid war.

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And a little later the Kermanshahian war ends as well. A Sheikh or Count level leading a rebellion is never good for the league that he is leading. All you have to do is march your levies to there one little province and siege it and then the war is over.

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The end of that war gives us some peace finally. And I decide Najib being a young Caliph better hurry up and run off to Mecca for the Hajj before another war erupts. All Caliphs should perform the Hajj so it's only fitting he does.

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The first event of this pilgrimage is one in which I get a 5% chance of becoming depressed or possessed. Thinking it through for a little while I roll the dice with the possession one. I figure a possessed Caliph would be funner to have. But sadly he doesn't get possessed.

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After the mirage I make it to Mecca.

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Here are some of the events that follow not a whole lot to say about them.

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Before we return from the Hajj my brother comes of age and I subsequently attempt to imprison him. Currently he is my heir, but he will be decadent so putting him in prison makes sense I suppose.

Unfortunately he run away.

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Where exactly did he run away too? He ran off to the Ummayads. I guess he figured he would be better suited to set up a pretender Caliphate in Toledo than he would staying in the middle east.

I then return from the Hajj a changed man...but still wishing to surpass Aarif in cruelty and injustice. Why be so mean and evil? I don't really know, but I've learned Muslims are allowed to get away with more tyrannical moves than their Christian adversaries. Which in a way makes things a little more fun.

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After returning from the Hajj I look around the map trying to see if there is anyone that will swear fealty to me. I like the idea of some peaceful take overs. I'm about tired of constant wars. So vassalising people sounds much more appealing.

Only one is willing to bend the knee. The former Caliph Aghlib refuses, and I immediately begin plotting a conquest of his territories with the casus belli Subjugation of Mesopotamia.

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Nice. A caliph!

But better check your Grand Vizier and hope he is no Iznogoud and wants to become "Caliph instead of the Caliph". :happy:
 
It will be a miracle to control ina normal way your decadence :p I have the idea of going West if you cna catch it ;)
 
Aarif: a cruel man, didn't do a whole lot (except fighting wars), murdered a man or two... And then has the Caliphate dropped neatly in his lap, with a bow tied around it. No wonder that his son's decided that being cruel and unjust is the way to go: it certainly worked for his dad.

Interesting to see the Muslim events and mechanics. I own SoI, but I haven't ever played it, so this is my first taste of that aspect of the game.

Looks like you're doing pretty well, even if you couldn't get Najib to become possessed by the Djinn. :)