So, the year is 1608 and the political situation in the land of Cerilia is as follows:
Let's go clockwise from the Rjurik. The Highlands are for the most part the White Witch's turf. There is also a significant presence of my Boeruine forces, as I have conquered one of the local duchies to overthrow its outlaw overlord (and put another outlaw in his place, whom I have repeatedly tried to convert, to no avail -.-). I have also had some skirmishes with local lords as well as wrestled two more valuable provinces from the Witch. Apart from that, the local powers are the goblin Black Skull Barony, some giant tribes (which seem to have no special traits, making them quite weak... Also one of their leaders is a half-elf and a train magician, who is also Attractive and Quick
), the Siren's land, the Elves of Lluabraight (currently conquering the giants and marrying with them
) and Svinik, whose lords intermarried with frickin' Wraiths a few generations ago, which led to some very strange looking Rjuriki [is that the correct plural form?]. The honest-to-Erik kings of Halskapa and Stjordvik probably feel pretty alienated in this company.
Oh, and in the East they got their arses kicked by the Brecht. It's a sad time to be a Rjurik.
The Brechtür are united again. I am very pleased with this region, story-wise, as they have cast aside their differences and united despite no single strong contender (only the League of Rheulgard, Grabentod and two tiny Kingdoms in Rohrmarch abstained) and for a good reason. The Gorgon took a few provinces in the west, the Vampires in the south, the Gnolls of the Gnoll Fells in the east (before the dwarves drove them away; and anyway they mostly concentrating on chewing on the local Rjurik enclaves. Poor Rjurik). The most powerful foe of the Brecht way of life, as well as the most powerful realm of the whole Cerilia (at least in terms of numbers) is, however, the goblin realm of Kal Kalathor. Although they took only one Brecht province, they are a threat enough to justify the recreation of united Brechtür. The goblin menace conquered the whole Great Steppe and Rhzlev, as well as making some incursions further east and the already mentioned Brecht province. What is more, the ruling clan of Kal Kalathor managed to bloodtheft some Masela bloodline, which is probably one of the reasons why the current ruler has a Negotiation score of 38 (sic!), along with Long Life, Divine Aura and two other blood powers, and a lot of good traits (Kind, Zealous, Ambitious, Mystic... Seriously?!?), which keeps the whole realm loyal to him. Basically, his Vos neighbours are pretty much f***ed.
Speaking of Vos, there's not that much left of them. There's Lutkhovsky and Melyy, as well as some sad remains of the Rhzlev kingdom on the east coast and the only semi-powerful Vos realm, Yeninkiy Kingdom (btw, those Vos names are kinda hilarious to me as a Slavic person xD). What didn't fall prey to the goblins was conquered by King Allan of Cwmb Bheinn. Basically, he decided that the Raven was a nuisance (if I remember this right, he was close to conquering the whole Dragon Coast), so the elves rotflstomped him when I wasn't looking. There are some Vos underlings converted to Nature worship, but much of the ex-Vos land is now in elven hands. As for the Raven, he had to flee to Malyy court and finally "died in a suspicious accident", leaving behind a dynasty of 27 living members, not counting the descendants of his daughters (he sired 23 children, most of them powerful mages with high intellect traits and Fear blood power).
The land of Khinasi is also quite interesting. The Western Khinasi have destroyed the Sphinx and unified their lands (although it was not the powerful, unified Al Ariya that got the crown, but the smaller Al Malakeh. [BTW, there seem to be two king-tier titles for Al Ariya - "Sheikhdom of Ariya" and "Balad Al Ariya", and the first one is incorporating some land from the second one, despite both being in hands of the same person, who BTW I supposed would be the Khinasi Emperor). The reason for the unification was probably what's happening in the Southeast - the Ghul is ever-threatening (although in process of being conquered by Kal Khalator, of all things), the Snake has crafted himself quite a realm both on the isles and in the mainland (by conquering most of Khourane, leaving it's ruler with no option but to join the Khinasi Empire), Djafra is torn apart by a civil war, Merasaf is half-dead and the Magian is doing quite well, even managing to skirmish with the Serpent. The other power that could stand against The Serpent was, funnily enough, The Lances of Dawn, which invaded his lands and hit hard enough for the Khinasi to be able to mount a counteroffensive against the dreaded Awnsheghlien. The only Khinasi power in the far east is Min Dhousai, a realm of Cuiraécen-worshipers. BTW, the Khinasi Empress is a Laerme worshiper. Strange, I would've thought they'd want an Avani worshiper.
[this is btw one of my biggest problems with this mod - although I understand the engine limitations, it makes worshipers of different Gods of Good hate each other (quite hard, if they have a Zealous trait or sth), which I don't like; maybe treating "Gods of good" as religion and assigning specific god worship by traits would be better? It would simulate d&d henotheism quite well, but on the other hand there seems to be more conflict between the churches of Gods of Good in Birthright than, say, in Forgotten Realms, so I don't really know...
And as I'm already offtopicing, I found it strange that the various churches and religious orders spent most of their time warring with their lords trying to revoke their lands. The CK mechanics of desiring holdings in counties you control does that, but I'm not sure if it's realistic in Birthright setting? I'm still not really knowledgeable about it...]
And finally we're getting into my familiar territory. Anuire. As you can see, the region is divided between 3 main powers: Boeruine, Avanil and the Empire [ruled by the lord of Alamie]. My Boeruine is currently conquering Diemed due to my favourite scheme - first I helped one of my subjects that had a Diemed claim get the Diemed throne and break free from the Empire, and then when he thought he'd just be independent I reminded him that he's my subject (in game terms - got a Diemed claim for him breaking free) and voila - an easy conquest incoming. I've done the same with Taeghas (only then they were breaking free of Avanil control). My Boeruine also conquered the goblins, outlaws and other scum in the north, impressed the rulers of Cariele and Mhoried with Prestige, convinced Dhoesone (whose ruler is my current Archduke's grandmother) that they should join (the two main reasons were probably me forming the Kingdom of Northern Marches and the argument "C'mon grandma, I'm your only heir anyway) and bribed the Imperial City into vassalage. Meanwhile the Avanil managed to conquer almost all of Ghoere as well as incorporating Alamie (until they snatched the Emperorship) and Tuornen. The Empire situation I described a few posts ago, basically I have no idea how and why that happened (Osoerde and Ghoere are parts of the Empire btw, only in a tyranny war. Meanwhile, the Avanil are warring to put somebody else on the throne, but not their current ruler, despite him having a claim. Strange.
) Meanwhile, the Spider fell in a battle, quite fast too, and Rhuobhe got conquered by me also with no problem (maybe because I managed to catch his army without him leading?) and now plots his revenge at the court of one of Tuarhievel's Vassals. BTW, Tuarhievel became a Gheallie Sidhe realm and did some invading on Dhoesone (despite their rulers being close kin with the lady of Dhoesone). I managed to win a war with them and get one of Dhoesone provinces back, albeit only after some save-loading and getting to understand precisely how the various bonuses from traits worked (and why a 26 military guy can be less effective than a 19 military brave sorceress). Finding their main stack without their ruler as a commander helped, too. Still, it was a hard battle even at 13k men vs 9k elves. Fear the Hunt.
Ok so that's it for now, hope it wasn't too long nor boring.
And to the creators of this mod - thank you! It's already as good, if not better, strategic story-telling machine then the original game, and a wonderful tribute to Birthright! <3
