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India, Part 3
In Which Wars are Fought, People are Killed by Snakes, and Many, Many, Many Babies are Born.
Still fuming over the failed tiger hunt, Ramapala looks for someone to help calm his temper. Hearing of a famous guru, he sends his servants to find this guru.
One of the unique events of the Indian religions is finding a guru. There?s no event chain or anything. You send your servants out and you get a guru. Simple as that.
Tragedy strikes as one of Ramapala?s beloved concubines dies in childbirth.
While this is sad for Ramapala, concubines are easy to replace. Also, in order to take pictures on my computer, I need to press shift + f11. Sometimes I press shift + f10 instead, which takes a picture of the map. Hence the ?map saved? on the screen.
Fortunately, her child survives, and Ramapala smiles as he looks down at his firstborn son.
Who may or may not be the actual heir.
A few days later, the guru Bhairav Singh arrives at the court.
He is one of the finest scholars of his generation, blessed with a quick mind and a patient spirit.
Gurus always have great stats and they always arrive at age 50.
I?ve said this already, but I think it bears repeating ? if you have a spare daughter, try getting her into a matrilineal marriage with a guru. As gurus have either quick or genius, there?s a good possibility of breeding some good councilors/generals.
Following his guru?s advice, Ramapala holds the Diwali, the Festival of Lights.
Holding the Diwali is pretty important if you want lots of piety. There?s also a few interesting events that happen during the feast as well.
If you?re a Hindu and Kali is your patron deity, you get a much more violent event, the Kali Puja. Human sacrifice may or may not be involved in the Kali Puja.
And no, you don?t need a guru to hold the Diwali. I just added that for storytelling purposes.
As much as Ramapala cares about his concubines, his wife is first and foremost in his heart.
In this event, you get three choices.
In the first choice, you get a very expensive gift that costs just as much to hold the Diwali. Choosing this option gives a 30% chance of your wife falling in love with you as well as an opinion boost.
The second choice is less expensive but you won?t get as much of an opinion boost from your wife.
The third choice is free but your wife won?t like that you?re being a cheapskate.
After several days? work and preparation, Ramapala is ready to have a good time with his friends and family.
Ramapala cracks a rare smile as his wife?s face lights up.
I can?t remember if Devavati fell in love with Ramapala at this point ? I?d like to think she did. 
Privately, Ramapala feels he has won a small victory of his own. He is no longer upset about the failed hunt, realizing that it was only a stupid tiger.
At this point we get 30 piety. This is quite a lot at the beginning of the game and you should do the Diwali whenever you can.
As the guests leave, Ramapala thinks about offering a raise to the guru. The guru would never accept it, of course, but Ramapala thought it would be a good way to show his thanks.
Unfortunately, you don?t get an opinion boost with your vassals for holding the Diwali. Just the 30 piety, which in my opinion is good enough.
Ramapala gets to work centralizing the power of the crown. He would like his son to inherit a united kingdom, not share half of it with his brothers. Looking closer at his papers, Ramapala notices that a ?Simone Drengot? is in line for the throne. Confused, he asks his steward who this boy is. His steward informs him that Simone is the son of Ramapala?s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Ramapala replies that said ancestor has been dead for hundreds of years. His steward simply shrugs.
We increase the crown authority. For most rulers, we?d have to deal with the aggravating features of gavelkind. But we?re Buddhist, so we?re fine with ultimogeniture, which only requires Low Crown Authority.
I never did find out what happened to Simone when he grew up.
While the nobles are a bit upset about surrendering some of their freedoms, they respect Ramapala, and trust that he has the kingdom?s best interests in mind.
Getting the crown authority up to Limited is pretty easy, but in my experience the higher you try to make the crown authority, the harder it is to get your vassals to approve it. Muslims don?t have to bother with asking your vassals, which is one of the reasons they?re awesome.
His mind at ease, Ramapala returns to his plans of conquest. Maharaja Gayakarn of the Cedi Kingdom has some of Ramapala?s land and Ramapala wants it back. The Cedis are weak and a juicy target.
The Cedi Kingdom is next on our list of targets and has quite a bit of our de jure land ? including an entire duchy! They?re also fairly weak, so the war shouldn?t cost us much.
Ramapala is distracted from his preparations by some welcome news. His wife, Devavati, has born him a son!
But didn?t he already have a son? True, but as the son of the queen, Shivanarayan lacks the -1 penalty to diplomacy that his brother Vigrahapala has. Besides, Devavati is Ramapala?s favorite. Now I?m imagining a Rachel-and-Leah rivalry between Devavati and the concubines.
Examining the latest spy reports, Ramapala notices that there has been a sharp increase in the Cedi kingdom?s expenses ? they?ve hired mercenaries in an attempt to stop Ramapala?s armies.
It?s a good idea to check the income of your enemies. An increase like this usually means that they hired a mercenary company to help balance out the numbers. Of course, this won?t stop us.
Once, managing his realm?s finances was a maze of numbers, dates, and math. Now managing the kingdom?s income and daily expenses comes fairly easy to Ramapala.
This is part of the ?improve stewardship? ambition. It?s not the best event, (my favorite is the inn event chain) but more stewardship is always nice.
He is as good at stewardship as any man worth his salt.
That?s one ambition down!
The war goes well for Ramapala, even slaying the young monarch of the Cedis, who fights like a demon before being cut down.
I didn?t expect this to happen, but it?s always nice when it does. Now the crown passes to his extremely young daughter. If we have any weak claims to push, we can push them.
Ramapala receives news of another pregnancy.
I?m showing you all of these just to show how many babies you will have as an Indian monarch. You?ll hit the cap in no time. And yes, there is a cap on how many babies you can have. I think it?s ten.
Shortly after, he receives news that his wife is pregnant as well. Truly the Buddha has blessed him!
A LOT of babies.
A few months later, Ramapala is granted a daughter.
You know how I said that Buddhists can choose their heirs? Well the choice must follow the gender succession laws. We have Agnatic-Cognatic, meaning that we can only choose a female heir if there are no males.
I?ll let this one speak for itself. I decide to put an end to the squabble.
I choose to flatter them.
I can?t remember what I did here.
I lambast their childish behavior.
Though he is as surprised as anyone else that his appeal succeeded, Ramapala congratulates himself on a job well done.
Believe me, I was surprised it worked. But hey, more diplomacy!
And just to make the day better, another child is born.
More babies! More future spouse claims to press!
But Ramapala?s good mood was not to last forever. He grows bored with his daily routine and the war that drags on forever. He decides to return to hunting, in hopes it will go better than the last time.
This is a random event that pops up for all rulers, I believe.
It doesn?t. Having a bird of prey do the hunting instead is much more appealing to Ramapala.
You can?t win them all.
As the war draws to a close, the Cedis call up one last band of mercenaries to stop the Pala onslaught. Meanwhile, Ramapala receives more bad news of a potential revolt.
I actually can?t remember if this is the second band they?ve hired or if the first band just sat out the initial fight.
The mercenaries are crushed and the war is over. The people celebrate and Jalela rushes over to Ramapala and tells him she is pregnant. Times are good for Ramapala.
But times are not good for a lonely young monarch on the Cedi throne, wondering why her daddy hasn?t come home.
Bear in mind I only have two concubines. And I forgot to screencap the end of the war.
During the festivities, Ramapala?s spies come up to him and tell him that Sultan Suleyman of Rum has been defeated in a Crusade. Ramapala replies, ?Who? And what??
Pisa won the Crusade. Woo.
Yeah, Rum is boned. Don?t let the civil war in the Byzantine Empire fool you. They?re going to take back all that land that Suleyman took from them.
The day that Ramapala never expected finally comes. He asks his wife and concubines,?Hey girls, could you stop having some many babies? I?m starting to lose track.? The glare they give him nearly convinces him to never open his mouth again.
Later, Jalela attempts to convert Ramapala to Hinduism, but Ramapala is firm in his convictions. And he?d really like to not deal with the caste system.
Seriously, the caste system is a pain.
At least it is his sweet Devavati who is pregnant.
His young daughter Asima is bored with her toys and wants more. Ramapala tells her to get some sun.
I basically told her to go play outside in hopes of making her get the diligent trait.
Upset by her father?s advice, Asima begins a lifelong habit of not trusting anyone.
?You won?t give me toys? I CAN?T TRUST ANYONE THEY ALL HATE ME.?
Whispers of an order of assassins begin to spread in India, whose possess mysterious powers of ?eagle vision? and something called ?parkour?. Ramapala notes that they are in western Persia and he is eastern India. He is not worried.
I?ve never played around that area. Are the assassins dangerous?
Ramapala is blessed with another son.
And one of his concubines is pregnant. Again.
Percentage of update learning about mechanics: 5%. Percentage of update learning about war and events: 35%. Percentage of update learning about babies: 60%.
Including the baby-to-be, we?re up to eight children in a short span of years.
Ramapala solidifies his control over Bihar.
We?re slowly beginning the process of getting everything up to primogeniture. You?re probably thinking ?Why primogeniture? Can?t we choose our heirs at ultimogeniture?? You?re right, but only Buddhists and Jains can do that. Hindus can?t, so I am preparing for our conversion. Hindus have full access to holy wars and holy wars are the best way to deal with non-Indians, so we will need to convert eventually.
Obayamma gives birth to another son. Ramapala decides to name the boy after himself.
Before he can turn around, Ramapala is informed that his other concubine is pregnant.
A few weeks later, one of Ramapala?s courtiers rushes up to him. ?Is another one of my concubines pregnant?? asks Ramapala. ?No sire, an exile from the Ghaznavid sultanate has arrived at court.?
I was a little confused when this guy showed up at first. However, I had been observing the Ghaznavid Sultanate for a while and put two and two together.
The Ghaznavids have been fighting several religious revolts, one of which was a Buddhist revolt. Zorawar must have been the leader of this revolt and when he was defeated, the Sultan banished him and Zorawar fled to the nearest Buddhist power ? us.
After a lengthy discussion, Ramapala learns a few things.
First, the Ghaznavids are not as mighty as they seemed.
Second, his Buddhists brothers are fighting the good fight.
Third, a new Hindu raj, the Budhid raj, has arisen out of a Hindu revolt against the Ghaznavids.
The success of the revolt is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because it means we have more land to conquer before we are required to switch to Hinduism. It is bad because we have to either force a claim or spend a subjugation war on them.
But believe me; things are going to get much more unpleasant for Ghaznavids. Much more.
Speaking of learning, he receives an invitation to visit the University of Nalanda. Always ready to improve himself, Ramapala accepts.
I?m not sure if this only happens to Indians or if this is just a localized version of a CKII-wide event chain.
Before he leaves, he gets the now familiar message of a birth in his family.
When we come to the next king, I?ll probably just have a list at the end for all the children that were born during an update. I?m just trying to give you a feeling for what it?s like having a bunch of concubines.
Ramapala, ready to learn, heads to the library.
As it turns out, this is a unique event. Built in the 5th century AD, the University of Nalanda was one of the greatest universities of ancient times. While it has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times, its destruction in the 12th century by the Turks appeared to shut it down for good ? but now it has been recently rebuilt and it should hold its first academic session this year, the first in almost a millennium.
According to Wikipedia, at its heyday it had over 10,000 students and 2,000 students ? quite a lot for ancient times. It was also one of the world?s first residential universities.
One of its more famous students was Chinese scholar Xuanzang ? the monk whose travels would become the basis of the famous Chinese novel ?Journey to the West.? It is unknown if Xuanzang traveled with a magic monkey king, a river monster, a pig demon, and a dragon on his way there. I?d love to see a class taught by Sun Wukong.
Sadly, I get nothing impressive here.
I hadn?t seen this event until I started this LP. It?s pretty neat. You get a temporary trait that gives +2 to diplomacy and a boost to vassal opinions I think.
As Ramapala grows older, his mind turns to spiritual matters and he and his guru begin to discuss Buddhism. However, Ramapala has doubts and wonders if Buddhism is really what he needs. Perhaps one of the other faiths can bring him peace.
Snakes and You: A Public Service Announcement
Snakes are poisonous and don?t really like people.
When they bite people, they die. The end.
At least it wasn?t anyone important. And a shame it wasn?t the guy leading the independence faction.
Sobered by the sight, the foods and drinks seem hollow to Ramapala. He is a changed man. The death had come so randomly, so quickly. When would he die.
We lose gluttonous. Buddhists get special ambitions to lose sinful traits and gain 100 karma for completing them, which we just did. We now have over 500 karma.
He seeks to accomplish all he can before he does so. He seeks to conquer the Chandela Kingdom
He seeks to subjugate.
Next time: Subjugation!