I can understand having only christians as playable (possibly leaving muslims, etc for a much wanted expansion). Inheritance, etc worked a lot differently in the muslim world (among other things due to the simple fact that there would be a lot more children to each ruler).
All else sounds very nice
I could never get into the first CK (I didn't try it until after I'd gotten used to clauswitz) but I always liked the idea and hoped to be able to be able to join in if a sequel using clauswitz was made...
All else sounds very nice