How to destroy my kingdom?

[Fishman786]

The Hastamid Empire of Ifriqiya is enjoying a golden age of peace and stability, spanning the western Mediterranean and steadily bringing the heathen barbarians of Italiyya to the House of Islam. The treacherous savages of Catalonia and Venice give Jizya to the Qaisar in Tunis, and the Pope of the Christians himself has been subordinated, reduced to a mere puppet. The Qaisar commands an army of twenty thousand loyal warriors, far stronger than any other western kingdom and rivalling the Romans themselves, and maintains enough galleys to strike anywhere in the Mediterranean sea without warning. Varangian raiders from the north are a perennial nuisance, with perennial swarms of infidels repeating the journey the Hastamids themselves made a century ago, but the Qaisar's powerful fleet and large elite retinue prevent them from doing too much damage.

This is all well and good, but it doesn't lead to a very interesting game. How can I destroy my kingdom in a way that a) makes sense from a role-playing perspective (so no giving all my land away for no reason), b) won't leave me unlanded (decadence revolt is out) and c) will have fun results?

I'm using @elvain 's excellent mod Ibn Battuta's Legacy btw, along with some fix mods of my own.

 

[TL_]

When Rome became too large to administrate effectively, it split into East and West. The Habsburg Empire similarly partitioned into the Austrian and Spanish empires.

You should grant your Italian holdings independence under a new sultan.

 

[Sirrobert1]

Piss off your vassals till they form a big ass independence faction.
You'll still have the kingdom, but not the lands.
Basically, start racking up Tyranny points

If you were Christian, you could go Elective succession and be voted out of the Kingdom, reducing you to a vassal. But that's not an option unfortunately.

 

[Fishman786]

When Rome became too large to administrate effectively, it split into East and West. The Habsburg Empire similarly partitioned into the Austrian and Spanish empires.

You should grant your Italian holdings independence under a new sultan.

This sounds interesting, but ATM I only have a single de-jure empire so I can't really partition it. I was doing so well that I even managed to make a custom empire without going on a mad prestige-grabbing conquest spree. Right now only Italy is assimilated, Africa and Sicily are not (owning to the fact that they're already parts of the de-jure Byzantine and Arabian empires), but I eventually plan to merge them into the custom empire.

Short-term goals include the actual conquest of Rome (which will start the crusades off), the conquest of the remaining Byzantine territories in Sicily (used to be part of the old Norse Serkland kingdom before it was Islamised and Arabised) and the destruction of the Shi'a schismatics in Morocco. Currently I can't do those things since the Pope's a tributary already and one of my personal mods disables the big CB types for rulers with certain trait combinations, but my son should be able to.

Piss off your vassals till they form a big ass independence faction.
You'll still have the kingdom, but not the lands.

If you were Christian, you could go Elective succession and be voted out of the Kingdom, reducing you to a vassal. But that's not an option unfortunately.

Yeah, the Muslim succession laws have some interesting mechanics, but you miss out on gavelkind, which is IMO the best succession type. As for pissing off the vassals, that might be a plan but they'll probably just form a boring "increase council authority" faction instead...

 

[Fishman786]

I might try to go Kharijite or Ibadi or something, but I can't find any of those to educate my sons and I'm not sure how to justify it roleplay-wise. Kharijite makes some sense for the egalitarianism, the Hastamid Empire has non-Arab origins and no ties whatsoever to the Ahle-Bayt or the Quaraysh, but Sunnis detest the Kharijites so I don't think the Qaisar would really go for that unless he was crazy.

 

[Sirrobert1]

Yeah, the Muslim succession laws have some interesting mechanics, but you miss out on gavelkind, which is IMO the best succession type. As for pissing off the vassals, that might be a plan but they'll probably just form a boring "increase council authority" faction instead...

Piss them off more. And more than that. They have to fire independence eventually right?

 

[Fishman786]

Piss them off more. And more than that. They have to fire independence eventually right?

I don't know how they prioritise which factions they choose. It seems a bit dumb to try and start a civil war just so they might get a vote on imprisonment or land grants.


Anyway, is there a good way to go Ibadi or Kharijite or some other heresy? Preferably one that lets me create a Caliphate...

 

[Arsonik]

Yeah, the Muslim succession laws have some interesting mechanics, but you miss out on gavelkind, which is IMO the best succession type.

Get depressed. Move your capital some place still Christian. Convert and establish gavelkind. Now move your capital back, if you wish. Kill yourself. Convert back to Islam once your heir takes his throne.