Russian achievement run advice

[StarSword]

Okay, so I've basically got a handle on the game mechanics and I have some experience playing tribal: my last start was High Chief Áed of Dál Riata in 769. I'm looking at doing an achievement run now and I decided to head east into the Baltic and form Russia, picked this guy:

High Chief Rodislav Slovensky of Ilmen in 769 is a decently strong start and begins with control of three demesne counties, including the Slavic holy site of Novgorod (his capital).

What I haven't decided yet is if I want to go quasi-historical with this run. Either way I plan to culture-flip to Russian from Ilmenian; my main question is religious, which is why I picked that mode. To wit, should I try to reform the Slavic faith, or go quasi-historical, convert to Orthodoxy, and create a Russian Orthodox patriarch?

• From where I am in the upper center of the Slavic region (above the 'c' in 'Slavic') it's not too difficult to conquer my way to reformation. Ilmen is part of de jure Rus so I can become king relatively fast by subjugation and culture-flip. The problem is seizing just enough territory so I can have my kingdom and pockets of Ruthenia and Poland without so much that my gains are completely demolished by elective gavelkind.
• Converting to Orthodoxy would save me the trouble of elective gavelkind but I'd have to get ships fast so I can raid for an Orthodox woman in the Med. Not interested in Catholicism because A) Russia is Orthodox and B) I don't want to have to deal with papal nonsense this time around.

Any other advice is appreciated. Especially how to deal with this godawful starting council (why the hell they gave my 3 Diplomacy, 11 Stewardship brother Zbignev the Chancellor slot instead of Steward is beyond me, never mind giving a 3 Intrigue priestess the job of spymaster...)

Running with everything except Sunset Invasion at the moment. And yes, I'm aware the achievements are disabled in this picture: I forgot to turn my mods off. (And I'll be mildly annoyed not to have Better Looking Garbs running, but I can't be arsed to uninstall it and reinstall with the Ironman-safe version.)

 

[Strangedane]

Worth mentioning.

If you want to be russian, you'll have to flip away from east-slavic/finno-ugric, for the culture to show up.

 

[Bernard95]

Odds are once you hit the area around Ruthenia, you'll have a good chance at getting missionaries from Bulgaria, ERE, and Georgia if you want to go Orthodox. Whether you reform, Christianize, or culture convert though you'll be able create Russian culture. If it was me personally I'd go with Rurik Rurikid in 867, since you start Germanic but have a Slavic heir. At least for a generation, you have free boats and can get some raiding in. Then you could follow the course of history from there and adopt Russian culture plus possibly go Orthodox far sooner via concubine provided you successfully raid the ERE.

On the other hand, reforming the Slavic faith carries some combat buffs, which will pair well with your Druzhina retinue which already gets defensive buffs.

 

[StarSword]

Worth mentioning.

If you want to be russian, you'll have to flip away from east-slavic/finno-ugric, for the culture to show up.

Or convert religions, I looked it up. I can create Rus and reform the faith, or shift to Orthodoxy.

Odds are once you hit the area around Ruthenia, you'll have a good chance at getting missionaries from Bulgaria, ERE, and Georgia if you want to go Orthodox. Whether you reform, Christianize, or culture convert though you'll be able create Russian culture. If it was me personally I'd go with Rurik Rurikid in 867, since you start Germanic but have a Slavic heir. At least for a generation, you have free boats and can get some raiding in. Then you could follow the course of history from there and adopt Russian culture plus possibly go Orthodox far sooner via concubine provided you successfully raid the ERE.

On the other hand, reforming the Slavic faith carries some combat buffs, which will pair well with your Druzhina retinue which already gets defensive buffs.

I did think about using Rurik since he's the historical father of Russia (the Rurikids ruled the place until the Romanovs took over in the 1600s), but in this case I kinda want the weak Catholicism of the Charlie start to work in my favor (they'll be too busy screwing up France to move east and screw with me, I hope). And I'd like to get the Seven Centuries achievement.

As far as boats, I had in mind starting off with the Scholarship focus for the early military bumps. I know I can't beat the Norse for shipbuilding but I did all right raiding England and Brittany as a tribal Catholic. Luckily I also start off with a coastal demesne province.