With CK2+ apparently adding the ability for nearby rulers of the same religion to dogpile an attacker in de jure claim wars in the same way that holy wars do, the Jewish Sennar start in the Charlemagne bookmark has literally no way to expand. If you declare war on anyone, you have to essentially fight the entirety of Coptic East Africa at once. And since you can't marry off to infidels, you can't get any alliances, nor can you attempt to marry into claims. Attempts at lightning-wars don't work, because when you go to war, someone will invariably declare a separate war against you, making the idea of "capture land and negotiate peace before their allies can mobilize" pointless. Even swearing fealty to Abyssinia doesn't really get you anywhere, since everyone in the kingdom hates you, making any attempts at plotting or factionalism futile.
I guess the only real viable play would be to save up money for many years until you can afford enough mercenaries for long enough to fight off all your neighbors, then blow decades' worth of savings to acquire a single province, then repeat for another century or two until you have a meaningful power base. Is there some other option I'm missing here? I know Sennar is supposed to be difficult, but not literally impossible...
I guess the only real viable play would be to save up money for many years until you can afford enough mercenaries for long enough to fight off all your neighbors, then blow decades' worth of savings to acquire a single province, then repeat for another century or two until you have a meaningful power base. Is there some other option I'm missing here? I know Sennar is supposed to be difficult, but not literally impossible...
