Should be interesting to see you spread out from the farthest edge of the map. I wonder what happens when Mongols appear. 
Horsemen of the Light (CKII+ Uyghur AAR)
- Thread starter RedTemplar
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Should be interesting to see you spread out from the farthest edge of the map. I wonder what happens when Mongols appear.
That could be scary... And of course, I"ll do my best to keep track of the big events happening elsewhere in the world... Surprising victories, surprising losses, and of course Charlemagne. CKII+ has a special system for the Carolingian Empire separate from the vanilla HRE mechanics, which is cool. But there's so many what-ifs in that first few decades with Karl and his family that you never know what Europe's gonna look like by the 9th century.
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Actually, in Horse Lords if you unify enough of the steppes, the Mongols won't appear. You will be the Mongols. You become Genghis Khan.
That's what I've read. I don't have Horse Lords so I couldn't tell you with 100% confidence. I think it is by decision like forming the HRE or India.
EDIT: "The Mongol Horde arrival events have been revised. If a mongol ruler becomes powerful enough he or she can claim the title of Genghis Khan. This will signal that the mongols have been united early and this will block the invasion event of the 13th century. Unless this happens Temujin will now arrive in the corner of the map instead of his sons in the early 13th century."
EDIT: "The Mongol Horde arrival events have been revised. If a mongol ruler becomes powerful enough he or she can claim the title of Genghis Khan. This will signal that the mongols have been united early and this will block the invasion event of the 13th century. Unless this happens Temujin will now arrive in the corner of the map instead of his sons in the early 13th century."
Interesting! That's good to note. Also, for those of you who are familiar with Horse Lords and the mechanics...
Any idea why my manpower says a potential growth of +46, but it's only trickling in at +6?
Any idea why my manpower says a potential growth of +46, but it's only trickling in at +6?
Two interesting prologues. Hopefully you will manage to slowly go towards the West, and work your way from the edge of the map.
CK2Plus has always been an interesting mod, but it was a long while since I played it the last time, so that will be interesting to (re)discover.
CK2Plus has always been an interesting mod, but it was a long while since I played it the last time, so that will be interesting to (re)discover.
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I now remember what I was thinking of. The governor of Tang thing was Anxi, not the Uighurs.
If I remember the Dev Diaries right, Manpower regenerates on an inverse exponential curve. So, if you had 0 Manpower you would be getting the full +46 per month. Since you are close to full Manpower it regenerates much slower.Interesting! That's good to note. Also, for those of you who are familiar with Horse Lords and the mechanics...
Any idea why my manpower says a potential growth of +46, but it's only trickling in at +6?
The Journey Begins
769 - 781 AD
Kutan at War
In 769, the three major clans of the Uyghur controlled one of the largest nomad Khaganates in the east. Khagan Tengri Bogu ruled from Karabalgasun in the northeast, where he led the Yaghlakar clan in its dominion over the Uyghur. In the far west, Khan Kozel of the Akhun Clan ruled the border regions of the Khaganate from Urzhar. And in the southeast, tucked among the Altai Mountains, Khan Kutan of the Reyhangul clan reigned from Balikun in Aj Bogd.
Kutan, hoping to form a strong partnership with the neighboring Akhun, took Kozel's only sister for his bride. She would soon bear him a son, the first of several children born to the Khan. Around the same time, he was granted the honor of being named Master of the Blade to Khagan Tengri Bogu in recognition of his martial prowess. That prowess was soon to be tested, however -- not long after the Khan's wedding took place, Tengri Bogu declared war on the neighboring Karlukids, setting his eyes on the conquest of the Steppe province of Zhetsyu.
Eager to claim the glory of victory, the Kozel sent his Akhun warriors out far ahead of the main attack force, engaging the Karlukids just across the border in Zhetsyu. This aggression proved a foolish decision on Kozel's part, as the superior numbers of the Karlukid horsemen overwhelmed his force and broke it, killing over half of Kozel's warriors before forcing them to retreat back into friendly territory. Emboldened, the Karlukids began to take the offensive, as the 500-strong armies of Kutan and Tengri Bogu joined up in the north and marched in unison to meet them. Thanks to numerical advantage and the superior skill of Kutan's Marshal, Ozmish of Naiman, the combined Uyghur forces cut through the Karlukids and scattered them, occupying Zhetsyu shortly thereafter. The invasion lasted just a little over a year, and the Karlukids conceded their defeat.
The victory brought a great deal of praise to the Reyhangul, and Kutan returned home with his victorious armies to begin a series of raiding campaigns against the small Buddhist territories to his south. The raids helped to offset the cost of quality horse breeders and hunting parties in the capital, and served as the primary source of the clan's income, as it lacked proper economic ventures. It was not long, however, before Kutan was forced to turn his attention to his neighbor and supposed ally.
The First Feud
In the spring of 772, Kozel sent a band of Akhun raiders to pillage Tsagaannuur, one of Kutan's provinces. Although the raiding force was a small one, Kutan had not expected a raiding party to be dispatched by an allied clan, and the band was able to ransack the area for over a month before a counter-attack drove them back. Angered, Kutan ordered his men to follow the party and hunt them down, slaughtering them to a man. The battle cost nearly 200 Reyhangul lives as well, weakening both clans -- and, by extension, the Uyghurs as a whole. It was at this point that Kutan began his own schemes against Kozel, plotting out his revenge -- which he would not have for several years.
In the frigid January of 778, Kozel's men sent another, larger raid against the Reyhangul, this time into Kutan's capitol in Aj Bogd. The Battle of Balikun saw the Reyhangul substantially outnumbered, but Marshal Ozmish proved himself a masterful commander, controlling the flow of the battle and defeating a force that outnumbered his own. This was the second time an Akhun raid had been defeated, but this time Kutan was determined to make a reprisal. With the majority of Kozel's army now killed at Ozmish's hands, Kutan escalated their feud into an outright war, declaring his intention to seize Beshbalik, which was adjacent to Aj Bogd.
Kozel attempted to raise more troops to resist the attack, but Kutan's men rode straight through into Altay, where they overran an army half their size and broke the Akhun resistance. After a successful siege, Kutan claimed victory in the war and took control of Beshbalik in less than a year of fighting. As an added prize, he captured one of Khan Kozel's concubines, whom he then took as his own concubine. With Kozel humiliated, Kutan sent his men back onto the raiding trails, capitalizing on wars in the south. Dunhuang and Turtam allied to invade the larger Petty Shahgdom of Kroran, resulting the latter's dissolution under the reign of Dunhuang's Count Tiande, who crowned himself Duke after absorbing the entire realm. In the midst of the fighting, Kutan's raiding parties assaulted the broken fortresses left in the wake of the opposing sieges, taking great wealth from the southern kingdoms before retreating back home at the war's end with his spoils.
World Events
The Magyars, Hungarian Nomads along the Dnieper River, found themselves being assaulted by their neighbors from every direction -- Kiev and Severia, in particular, gained land at the expense of the Magyar clans. By 781, the Magyars had lost over half of their land and seemed to be on the path to annihilation by the local tribal lords.
The Eastern Roman Empire also fell on hard times, coming under attack by the neighboring Abbasid Caliphate. When the two armies met in the field, the Muslim invaders gained the upper hand quickly -- several large forces of Byzantine troops were routed by the Caliph's men, and Konstantinos V met his untimely death during the war. It remains unclear if he was murdered on the orders of the Cailph or one of his own conspiring vassals, but the circumstances around his passing made it clear that foul play was involved. Just when it seemed that the Caliph would gain victory, however, both kingdoms were weighed down by a number of revolts and uprisings, eventually concluding the war with a white peace after nearly a decade-long standoff.
Most notable, however, was the rise of Karling dominance in western Europe. When the aged Lombard King Desiderius died of depression, Karloman of Austrasia attempted to capitalize on the regency of the child King Adelchis and took the opportunity to seize the crown of his southern neighbor. His armies made progress against the defending Lombards, but the sudden -- and highly suspect -- death of King Karloman and the absorption of his kingdom into his brother Karl's Neustria, brought the conflict to an abrupt end.
Karl shared his brother's ambitions for rule in Lombardy, however, and used subterfuge to plant the seeds of rebellion among the Lombards. A number of Lombard dukes organized under Count Lambert, ruler of Tortone and Parma, and waged a civil war to force Adelchis to abdicate the throne in favor of Karl. While the kingdom was divided in half by the fighting, Karl sent his armies to sweep down the peninsula, capturing the child King and forcing his surrender. Lombardy became part of Neustria just as Austrasia before it, and Karl was undoubtedly the most powerful European King of his time.
After Karl also conquered Bavaria and Saxony, Pope Julius crowned him Holy Roman Emperor, much to the agitation of Konstantinos and many Greek Christians. Carolingian dominance was cemented in Europe, and Charlemagne commanded the military power to match -- perhaps even exceed -- that of the Basileus in Constantinople.
769 - 781 AD
Kutan at War
In 769, the three major clans of the Uyghur controlled one of the largest nomad Khaganates in the east. Khagan Tengri Bogu ruled from Karabalgasun in the northeast, where he led the Yaghlakar clan in its dominion over the Uyghur. In the far west, Khan Kozel of the Akhun Clan ruled the border regions of the Khaganate from Urzhar. And in the southeast, tucked among the Altai Mountains, Khan Kutan of the Reyhangul clan reigned from Balikun in Aj Bogd.
Kutan, hoping to form a strong partnership with the neighboring Akhun, took Kozel's only sister for his bride. She would soon bear him a son, the first of several children born to the Khan. Around the same time, he was granted the honor of being named Master of the Blade to Khagan Tengri Bogu in recognition of his martial prowess. That prowess was soon to be tested, however -- not long after the Khan's wedding took place, Tengri Bogu declared war on the neighboring Karlukids, setting his eyes on the conquest of the Steppe province of Zhetsyu.
Eager to claim the glory of victory, the Kozel sent his Akhun warriors out far ahead of the main attack force, engaging the Karlukids just across the border in Zhetsyu. This aggression proved a foolish decision on Kozel's part, as the superior numbers of the Karlukid horsemen overwhelmed his force and broke it, killing over half of Kozel's warriors before forcing them to retreat back into friendly territory. Emboldened, the Karlukids began to take the offensive, as the 500-strong armies of Kutan and Tengri Bogu joined up in the north and marched in unison to meet them. Thanks to numerical advantage and the superior skill of Kutan's Marshal, Ozmish of Naiman, the combined Uyghur forces cut through the Karlukids and scattered them, occupying Zhetsyu shortly thereafter. The invasion lasted just a little over a year, and the Karlukids conceded their defeat.
The victory brought a great deal of praise to the Reyhangul, and Kutan returned home with his victorious armies to begin a series of raiding campaigns against the small Buddhist territories to his south. The raids helped to offset the cost of quality horse breeders and hunting parties in the capital, and served as the primary source of the clan's income, as it lacked proper economic ventures. It was not long, however, before Kutan was forced to turn his attention to his neighbor and supposed ally.
The First Feud
In the spring of 772, Kozel sent a band of Akhun raiders to pillage Tsagaannuur, one of Kutan's provinces. Although the raiding force was a small one, Kutan had not expected a raiding party to be dispatched by an allied clan, and the band was able to ransack the area for over a month before a counter-attack drove them back. Angered, Kutan ordered his men to follow the party and hunt them down, slaughtering them to a man. The battle cost nearly 200 Reyhangul lives as well, weakening both clans -- and, by extension, the Uyghurs as a whole. It was at this point that Kutan began his own schemes against Kozel, plotting out his revenge -- which he would not have for several years.
In the frigid January of 778, Kozel's men sent another, larger raid against the Reyhangul, this time into Kutan's capitol in Aj Bogd. The Battle of Balikun saw the Reyhangul substantially outnumbered, but Marshal Ozmish proved himself a masterful commander, controlling the flow of the battle and defeating a force that outnumbered his own. This was the second time an Akhun raid had been defeated, but this time Kutan was determined to make a reprisal. With the majority of Kozel's army now killed at Ozmish's hands, Kutan escalated their feud into an outright war, declaring his intention to seize Beshbalik, which was adjacent to Aj Bogd.
Kozel attempted to raise more troops to resist the attack, but Kutan's men rode straight through into Altay, where they overran an army half their size and broke the Akhun resistance. After a successful siege, Kutan claimed victory in the war and took control of Beshbalik in less than a year of fighting. As an added prize, he captured one of Khan Kozel's concubines, whom he then took as his own concubine. With Kozel humiliated, Kutan sent his men back onto the raiding trails, capitalizing on wars in the south. Dunhuang and Turtam allied to invade the larger Petty Shahgdom of Kroran, resulting the latter's dissolution under the reign of Dunhuang's Count Tiande, who crowned himself Duke after absorbing the entire realm. In the midst of the fighting, Kutan's raiding parties assaulted the broken fortresses left in the wake of the opposing sieges, taking great wealth from the southern kingdoms before retreating back home at the war's end with his spoils.
World Events
The Magyars, Hungarian Nomads along the Dnieper River, found themselves being assaulted by their neighbors from every direction -- Kiev and Severia, in particular, gained land at the expense of the Magyar clans. By 781, the Magyars had lost over half of their land and seemed to be on the path to annihilation by the local tribal lords.
The Eastern Roman Empire also fell on hard times, coming under attack by the neighboring Abbasid Caliphate. When the two armies met in the field, the Muslim invaders gained the upper hand quickly -- several large forces of Byzantine troops were routed by the Caliph's men, and Konstantinos V met his untimely death during the war. It remains unclear if he was murdered on the orders of the Cailph or one of his own conspiring vassals, but the circumstances around his passing made it clear that foul play was involved. Just when it seemed that the Caliph would gain victory, however, both kingdoms were weighed down by a number of revolts and uprisings, eventually concluding the war with a white peace after nearly a decade-long standoff.
Most notable, however, was the rise of Karling dominance in western Europe. When the aged Lombard King Desiderius died of depression, Karloman of Austrasia attempted to capitalize on the regency of the child King Adelchis and took the opportunity to seize the crown of his southern neighbor. His armies made progress against the defending Lombards, but the sudden -- and highly suspect -- death of King Karloman and the absorption of his kingdom into his brother Karl's Neustria, brought the conflict to an abrupt end.
Karl shared his brother's ambitions for rule in Lombardy, however, and used subterfuge to plant the seeds of rebellion among the Lombards. A number of Lombard dukes organized under Count Lambert, ruler of Tortone and Parma, and waged a civil war to force Adelchis to abdicate the throne in favor of Karl. While the kingdom was divided in half by the fighting, Karl sent his armies to sweep down the peninsula, capturing the child King and forcing his surrender. Lombardy became part of Neustria just as Austrasia before it, and Karl was undoubtedly the most powerful European King of his time.
After Karl also conquered Bavaria and Saxony, Pope Julius crowned him Holy Roman Emperor, much to the agitation of Konstantinos and many Greek Christians. Carolingian dominance was cemented in Europe, and Charlemagne commanded the military power to match -- perhaps even exceed -- that of the Basileus in Constantinople.
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So, yeah, this feels a LOT different from playing Feudals. I have my dinky little 500-man army that is actually larger than my starting manpower permits, so if it ever gets annihilated I can't even raise a full 500 back again. Which feels really small, compared to size of levies you see drawn up in the European world. I also didn't expect to suddenly get raided by the clan next door without some kind of warning message, but they just showed up and started pillaging.
This is going to take a lot of getting used to, and I have no idea how a nomadic horde is going to compete with a real feudal kingdom... But we'll see! I'm having fun, at least.
This is going to take a lot of getting used to, and I have no idea how a nomadic horde is going to compete with a real feudal kingdom... But we'll see! I'm having fun, at least.
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Ah, the life of a nomad. Raiding your enemies, neighbours, friends, brothers-in law, and everyone else.
The Lombards are probably revolting because they don't have a Bavarae on the throne.
The Lombards are probably revolting because they don't have a Bavarae on the throne.
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Pillaged by your ally... Yeah, that about sums up my experience with Nomads. They take a lot of adjusting to get used to.
The Carolingian Empire is already massive. If they remain stable, they're just going to dominate that region. Luckily you're on the other side of the map.
The Carolingian Empire is already massive. If they remain stable, they're just going to dominate that region. Luckily you're on the other side of the map.
Inevitably, it won't. As I recall, the way CKII+ is set, the Carolingian Empire will dissolve as soon as a non-Karling takes the throne. It treats the CE and the HRE as two different entities.
And seeing as the only way to end a feud appears to be to pay them off with gold... This is gonna be a long and bitter spat of in-fighting.
And seeing as the only way to end a feud appears to be to pay them off with gold... This is gonna be a long and bitter spat of in-fighting.
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Really? I don't have much experience with CKII+. That's different.
I like that though because that's historically accurate. While Charles is considered the first HRE, it was really one of his sons or grandsons, I forget which exactly, that got it forged.
As do I!! CKII+ adds a lot of great depth to the game, I enjoy it a lot. I'm a little sad I didn't discover it in time for my Lombard AAR.
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This is literally my favorite faction to play as. I will be following this with great interest. I love how much CK2+ added to the Manicheans
Agreed! In vanilla it's a featureless Zoroastrian heresy, but here they have unique decisions, a special feast, their own council of apostles, and even a holy order.