Iron Century was my favorite start date in CK2. Back before I got any DLCs, it was literally the only start date I used, and after I got all of the DLCs it was still my go-to start date unless I wanted to reform the Germanic faith.
Since I'm an Anglo-Saxaboo, almost every time I played I played as Æthelstan - because it's the only start date where there's a strong, united Anglo-Saxon England not under immediate threat from foreign invasions and raiders. That being said, Æthelstan is not the only reason to play in 936.
936 serves as a good intermediary period between the (relatively) Early Middle Ages in 867 and the High Middle Ages in 1066, a wonderful transitionary period between the old and new where Christianity is on the rise, but still faces steep opposition from the Islamic and Pagan worlds - though I feel it's generally more balanced in CK3, in CK2 anything before 936 would see the Christian world just get utterly crushed by Muslims and Pagans and anything after 936 is mostly Christian-dominated by default. It's full of exciting starts and roleplay opportunities for Christian, Norse Pagan, and Muslim rulers.
In particular, I remember a thread a few years ago where one of the CK2 devs who worked on it, @Snow Crystal, where they described Eirikr Bloodaxe as the "Hæsteinn of the Iron Century" or at least stated that they tried to capture that feeling. I just wanted to shout them out because I could tell they and their teammates (sorry teammates, I don't know who you are unfortunately) put a lot of love into that start date and in my opinion the result was pretty much perfect.
Additionally, the time period feels a lot more balanced than 867 or 1066, where there are several decently-sized kingdoms but only one massive blob that I can recall (that being the semi-omnipresent and ironically eternal Byzantine Empire). There's a lot more room to expand (especially if you're Otto of Germany lol) but you're still on a relatively even playing field.
Idk what else to say but it's an amazing start date and I genuinely love it so much.
Since I'm an Anglo-Saxaboo, almost every time I played I played as Æthelstan - because it's the only start date where there's a strong, united Anglo-Saxon England not under immediate threat from foreign invasions and raiders. That being said, Æthelstan is not the only reason to play in 936.
936 serves as a good intermediary period between the (relatively) Early Middle Ages in 867 and the High Middle Ages in 1066, a wonderful transitionary period between the old and new where Christianity is on the rise, but still faces steep opposition from the Islamic and Pagan worlds - though I feel it's generally more balanced in CK3, in CK2 anything before 936 would see the Christian world just get utterly crushed by Muslims and Pagans and anything after 936 is mostly Christian-dominated by default. It's full of exciting starts and roleplay opportunities for Christian, Norse Pagan, and Muslim rulers.
In particular, I remember a thread a few years ago where one of the CK2 devs who worked on it, @Snow Crystal, where they described Eirikr Bloodaxe as the "Hæsteinn of the Iron Century" or at least stated that they tried to capture that feeling. I just wanted to shout them out because I could tell they and their teammates (sorry teammates, I don't know who you are unfortunately) put a lot of love into that start date and in my opinion the result was pretty much perfect.
Additionally, the time period feels a lot more balanced than 867 or 1066, where there are several decently-sized kingdoms but only one massive blob that I can recall (that being the semi-omnipresent and ironically eternal Byzantine Empire). There's a lot more room to expand (especially if you're Otto of Germany lol) but you're still on a relatively even playing field.
Idk what else to say but it's an amazing start date and I genuinely love it so much.
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