The Wailing Wall - A Khazar Jew AAR
My opening screen
Mission Statement
When I heard SoA was introducing Judiasm and the Khazar Jews, I was initially tremendously excited. My favorite CK2 games are when I take control of historical underdogs, build them up a bit, and then see what weird stuff happens to the globe when they have a fighting chance.
Unfortunately, I had a couple other games going on when the DLC was released and it wasn’t until late December that I finally got SoA, loaded up as Khazaria, and discovered that it was definitely worth the wait. I marathoned the game throughout that weekend because I simply couldn’t put it down, and I can say without a doubt that it was the most complex, entertaining, and RP friendly game I have played to this point.
Sadly however, all good things must come to an end, and when I returned home after class the next Monday, to my dismay I found that my last twelve hours or so of playtime had failed to save. Expectedly, I was crushed and ever since I just haven’t had the heart to pick up the game from its most recent remaining save. Yet I haven’t be able to delete the old save file either, and each time I load a save file, I’ve felt a twinge of regret for the game that could have been.
Eventually I got to thinking I would restart from 867 fresh and, even write an AAR about my journey so that I could even bring a couple other people along for the ride. Hopefully, I manage to recreate the magical madness that is Khazaria, and am able to write well enough that I can share with you.
Plus, besides from all my personal stuff, the Khazars are a fascinating little tidbit of history. The ruling class of Khazaria probably converted to Judaism about 120 years before the Old Gods scenario start date in what was probably an attempt to remain politically unattached from the Orthodox Byzantines to their west and the Muslim Caliphate to their east.
Take a look at the Alan culture
It was during this period and immediately afterwards that Khazaria reached the height of their power and territorial expansion. The Khanate stretched from Kiev in the west all the way past the Caspian Sea in the east, and essentially they controlled all trade that traveled up and down the Silk Road in that region. However, in the year 867, the Khazars were just starting to hit their decline. The Alans, who were Khazaria’s ally/vassal, had recently converted to Orthodox Christianity and the Byzantines had begun to encourage them to agitate against the Khazars. Additionally, the Russian tribes that had formerly paid tribute to Khazaria had begun to establish themselves as a power in the region and pushed their borders all the way into Crimea at the Khazars’ expense. As if that wasn’t enough, the Pechenegs and the Cumans (both former tributaries of Khazaria) started moving west in force which resulted in Khazar lands coming under even more pressure.
Historically, the encircled Khazars would decline steadily until about 969 when Sviatoslav I of the Kievan Rus would conquer Itil and effectively destroy the Khazar state. But this isn’t history and I’m here to change the world.
My opening screen
Mission Statement
When I heard SoA was introducing Judiasm and the Khazar Jews, I was initially tremendously excited. My favorite CK2 games are when I take control of historical underdogs, build them up a bit, and then see what weird stuff happens to the globe when they have a fighting chance.
Unfortunately, I had a couple other games going on when the DLC was released and it wasn’t until late December that I finally got SoA, loaded up as Khazaria, and discovered that it was definitely worth the wait. I marathoned the game throughout that weekend because I simply couldn’t put it down, and I can say without a doubt that it was the most complex, entertaining, and RP friendly game I have played to this point.
Sadly however, all good things must come to an end, and when I returned home after class the next Monday, to my dismay I found that my last twelve hours or so of playtime had failed to save. Expectedly, I was crushed and ever since I just haven’t had the heart to pick up the game from its most recent remaining save. Yet I haven’t be able to delete the old save file either, and each time I load a save file, I’ve felt a twinge of regret for the game that could have been.
Eventually I got to thinking I would restart from 867 fresh and, even write an AAR about my journey so that I could even bring a couple other people along for the ride. Hopefully, I manage to recreate the magical madness that is Khazaria, and am able to write well enough that I can share with you.
Plus, besides from all my personal stuff, the Khazars are a fascinating little tidbit of history. The ruling class of Khazaria probably converted to Judaism about 120 years before the Old Gods scenario start date in what was probably an attempt to remain politically unattached from the Orthodox Byzantines to their west and the Muslim Caliphate to their east.
Take a look at the Alan culture
It was during this period and immediately afterwards that Khazaria reached the height of their power and territorial expansion. The Khanate stretched from Kiev in the west all the way past the Caspian Sea in the east, and essentially they controlled all trade that traveled up and down the Silk Road in that region. However, in the year 867, the Khazars were just starting to hit their decline. The Alans, who were Khazaria’s ally/vassal, had recently converted to Orthodox Christianity and the Byzantines had begun to encourage them to agitate against the Khazars. Additionally, the Russian tribes that had formerly paid tribute to Khazaria had begun to establish themselves as a power in the region and pushed their borders all the way into Crimea at the Khazars’ expense. As if that wasn’t enough, the Pechenegs and the Cumans (both former tributaries of Khazaria) started moving west in force which resulted in Khazar lands coming under even more pressure.
Historically, the encircled Khazars would decline steadily until about 969 when Sviatoslav I of the Kievan Rus would conquer Itil and effectively destroy the Khazar state. But this isn’t history and I’m here to change the world.