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Miaphysite Tutorial
Part 15: Defense! (963-975)
I celebrate my taking a holy site away from the Sunni by taking a pilgrimage to a holy site for Christians.
Jerusalem here I come!
Unfortunately I get the worst event choice possible once I get there. The other option is an incurable disease that will eventually kill me and I don?t want my current guy dead because then my kinslayer son takes over.
And because this is what I?m dealing with already. I have an heir to Byzantium getting faction support for Armenia. Even though it never fires I?m getting serious vassal trouble.
The Emperor?s come for his usual pound of flesh from my side. And unfortunately I can?t fend him off. I immediately surrender and lose the rest of the Duchy of Coloneia.
He still has ten thousand men more than I do and I?m trying to absord Baghdad into the Kingdom ? it won?t be until 1000AD that all the maluses expire. I?m trying to ensure I don?t fall apart when my heir takes over.
My plot to cripple Byzantium overall has backfired. Even though there?s enough claimants to start claimant wars, the Emperor still has a shitton of men. Worse, by forcing him to focus on Croatia and Serbia and Italy he?s almost taken all that de jure land over. Bulgaria and Armenia are next.
Fun side note: my wife is totally in love with me. And is a Rival. So she hates me. The nights must be rough.
The tax penalties to Baghdad expire and hooooly shit I?m glad I kept most of the duchy. I leave Tripoli to a vassal. Damascus and Baghdad are now going to be all mine. I start investing in improving all the holdings I have, I need to be on top of my game now.
New emperor, not my dynasty. His heir IS, however. I arrange for his assassination.
It proves to be a popular move.
With the Abbassids stable for once, I turn my attention north. Pagan homeland attrition penalties are still going to hit me at Military Organization 3 (they go away once I hit 4), but Torki is the last bit of de jure land in Wallachia I don?t have.
I start trying to pull the same trick I pulled on Byzantium with Georgia, only this time I don?t have to deal with marriage and go straight to conversions.
This is the culture screen, one of the many map displays you can have active. Check out that Armenian enclave in the Duchy of Damascus. If I can get that to come into the Baghdad area then I could have culture conversion decisions back in case we have a Bulgarian problem again.
I suck at killing Emperors, apparently. I might not have to, though. Claimant war is going on.
The attrition is the real defensive MVP. I need to get to Military Tech 4.
Uuuuuuugh. The timer on Sunni Jihads expired and they want all of Syria.
Here?s the good news. The Abbassid army has to march through Baghdad to get to Syria. They?ll be taking attrition damage if they scrounge up enough men and it gives me time to prepare.
I?ve mentioned two ways to get war score ? winning fights and taking territory. Well, meet the heir to the Abbassid Empire everyone! We captured him in the initial skirmishes of the war.
Worth a cool 50% warscore! I WOULD keep him but this is a chance to seriously fuck with the Abbassid succession. Since the Armenians are a ?Byzantine? culture I have access to special Byzantine punishments like blinding or castration.
Yes. I just made sure the Caliph?s heir has no children and disqualified him from succession. Short term pain? long term gain.
The news that Persia?s jumping in almost makes me regret it. Persia has their shit together for now and they could swing this thing. Georgia and East Francia answer my calls to war, but Francia sends a token force and Georgia takes its time.
Good news! I finally killed the Emperor and put someone of my bloodline on the throne!
Bad news! He?s a Greek Orthodox that hates my guts for killing a close relative AND has a weak claim on Armenia! I?m directly responsible for putting a Sword of Damocles over my head here.
What makes this worse is the Kinslayer penalty to members of your dynasty. This guy is going to hate my heir, too. EVERYONE is going to hate my heir. The plan to convert Georgia is off for the time being. I?m going to need a couple updates to figure out what to do.
The Abbassids come at me first. Even after losing some of their best land that 9K stack isn?t a joke. It has to die before the Persians arrive.
Like I?ve said previously though, they?re taking attrition trying to get to Syria. When I finally catch up, its will almost all my manpower against them. The Abbassids will need time to recover.
Good thing, because the Bektashi and the Persians just showed up with all of their men. Even with attrition I need a good opportunity.
I go chasing off one Abbassid army but they keep coming. The Abbassids are desperately trying to send in mercs to ensure they win this one.
But even the Persians are not immune to my strategies. I?ve hired two stacks of mercs and taken a loan to pull this off.
This is the decisive battle of the war, but it will be years for the jihad to end. It?s literally just waiting out the clock now.
It takes four years from the DoW, but the Caliph finally calls it off. But something dawns on me.
The Abbassids and the Persians just got trounced. The Egyptians will be standing alone against me and they still hold Alexandria. Alexandria, home of the Coptic Pope and trigger point for our religious holy order.
Let's do this.
Next Time: Stepping Stones and Kinslayer Kings