Toggle Background Color

India, Part 4
What Can Change the Nature of a Man?



Maharaja Kirtivarma is a master of stewardship and a passable warrior ? but he is a coward and extremely old. Ramapala?s advisors suggest that he simply wait for the old man to die and then strike as the new king comes to the throne.

Waiting for an old king to die and attacking his heir instead is pretty good advice. Kirtivarma is not a Buddhist or a Jain, so he can?t change the laws to Ultimogeniture and choose his heir. He has stuck with Gavelkind for now and any veteran CKII player can tell you that Gavelkind is awful. When he dies, a few different things will happen, all of which will be to my advantage.
1. His titles will be divided between his two sons, meaning that his heir will not get all of his land. This means that his heir has fewer troops to call up from his personal demesne, and that he will have to rely more on his vassals for troops when I strike.
2. As a 69 year-old king, Kirtivarma probably has a hefty ?long reign? opinion bonus. As a king?s reign lengthens, he will gain a ?long reign? that will only increase as time goes on. I think I?ve had it to about +30 once. Since vassals give you more troops if they like you, he can probably call up quite a bit. That will disappear when he dies.
3. When a king comes onto to the throne, he gets a ?short reign? opinion malus with his vassals. Buddhist and Jain vassals don?t get this towards their rulers, but Hindus and everyone else does. Kirtivarma is a Hindu, so there is a good chance his son is as well. Basically, when the new king comes about, his vassals will probably hate him.
4. When Kirtivarma dies, both of his sons will have a claim on the kingdom of Chandela. This means the heir?s brother will have a ?Title Claimant? malus towards his brother, meaning even less troops will be given.
5. While money is inherited, piety is not, so there will be less of a chance of the new heir being able to hire a holy order.

So with of this in place, did I wait for him to die? Yes, I did, but the bastard refused to die. I?m sure every CKII player has a story of that old guy who stubbornly clung to life even though he should have died a long time ago.



Before he sends his forces against the walls of the Chandelas, Ramapala is reminded of the need to upgrade his own.

Here is our capital, Laksmanavati. As provinces go, it?s pretty good. I mean, it?s no Middlesex, but it?s better than Dublin. I haven?t upgraded the place much, but Castle Walls are a requirement for many of those upgrades as well as being cheap. So I upgrade them here and at most of my other provinces.

One of the reasons I chose the 1081 start is that Ramapala starts with a few better provinces than his dad does in 1066. He also doesn?t have to compete with his brothers for them under Gavelkind should the king die before changing the laws.



Ramapala tries his hand at tiger hunting again.

It doesn?t go well.

I honestly don?t know why I bother with tiger hunts. I rarely do them since I rarely get anything good out of them, so this is one area I don?t know much about.

There is one good thing, though. If you get the gambling event chain and play for high stakes, you can come out with a fairly hefty chunk of change.

I?m only adding new tiger hunt event pictures if there is a new one. The hunt failed and there were no new events, so no pictures.



Ramapala also brushes up on his diplomacy. He is going to be adding an entire kingdom to his domain, after all.

This is part of the ?Improve Diplomacy? ambition chain. More diplomacy is always nice. I don?t think I mentioned this, but you get 100 prestige for completing the ambition.



Years go by and Ramapala is an old man himself. He exercises himself like any good king ? by invading another country and taking land from them. He feels that he and his family will have a long relationship with the Cedis. And by ?long relationship? he means ?beat them up whenever the truces expire.?

Seriously, there was a long period of sitting around waiting for Kirtivarma to die. I amuse myself by taking more land from the Queen of Cedi.



Unlike the last war, the Cedis have no money to hire mercenaries ? the outnumbered defenders of the kingdom can only flee before the might of the armies of Pala.

A few things to note in this picture:
1. We outnumber them by quite a bit.
2. I?ve moused over the 2596 in the picture. This shows me how their army is composed and most importantly ?
3. It shows me where they?re going and when they will get there. You can do this with your own armies and by comparing them you can tell ahead of time whether or not you?ll be able to intercept the enemy army. Nothing is more annoying than your troops arriving just after the enemy has moved to another province.



During a lull in the fighting, Ramapala thinks of his firstborn son, Vigrahapala. Vigrahapala is a just and sociable young man, but he is wrathful and a glutton. Ramapala wonders if he should have taught the boy himself, but feels that he would have little to teach the boy that another man could not.

Vigrahapala, our firstborn, has turned out? decently. Gregarious (+2 to diplomacy and +5 to attraction and general opinion) and Just (+2 to stewardship and +10 to vassal opinion) are both good traits and Wrathful (+3 to martial, -1 to intrigue and diplomacy) is a situational trait (good for generals, bad for diplomats and spymasters), but Gluttonous (-2 to stewardship and -10 to attraction and church opinion) is an altogether negative trait.

If you remember from the very first update, Ramapala is a Detached Priest, the very worst Learning education trait. Of course, being a Mastermind Theologian (+2 to diplomacy and stewardship, +9 to learning, -1 to intrigue, -5% fertility), the very best learning education has a downside of its own, namely the fertility penalty.

I didn?t have Ramapala teach his sons for fear of passing on Detached Priest instead of Grey Eminence (+9 to diplomacy, +2 to intrigue and learning, -1 to martial, +10% fertility). Only later do I remember that I could have switched to a Grey Eminence tutor at the last moment. Oh well.



Here is another part of ?Improve Diplomacy? chain. We?re going to stop a suicide. I didn?t add this to the narrative because Ramapala is supposed to be out in the field with his men (seriously, he?s at war, how does he have time for this?), not prancing about in the capital.



Things could have gone better for the poor man, but this is actually the better of the two outcomes for Ramapala, as this gives more diplomacy than the other option.



One of our sons-in-law dies. Oh well. For some reason I didn't have the message for my daughter growing up.



At last, Ramapala can wait no longer. He must strike now, not later, lest he die before the old man does.

A few days later, a very brave (or very foolish) courier arrives at the court of Maharaja Kirtivarma. The courier states that one part of the message is to be read in public and the other is for the Maharaja alone to read.

He reads aloud
?To the Maharaja and his pitiful soldiers,
Your lands and treasures are forfeit. Your cities and your towns are mine. Your armies will be crushed as the rocks are crushed upon the waves of the sea. Thus speaks the Maharaja of Pala.?

The courier hands Kirtivarma the private part of the message and dashes off as quickly as he can.

It reads ?I?m coming for you, you son of a bitch.?

The call to war echoes across the kingdom of Chandela, for the armies of Pala march against them.

This is it. We?ve launched the subjugation war. If we win this, we get everything he has. His kingdom and his vassals will be ours. This is why we gathered up that piety ? so we could launch a war to claim an entire kingdom. This isn?t a county-by-county war. We?re going for broke.



Before his armies march into Chandela, Ramapala asks one of his spies for the latest intelligence on the enemy army. He nearly spits out his wine when he sees the numbers. "Where on did these people come from?! Was he hiding them in his basement?"

Look at those numbers. The odds seemed to have turned against us. Sadly, I seem to have lost the original picture of his troops before the war, but he didn't have those numbers before.

The answer to the mysterious troops is obvious; Kirtivarma's hired mercenaries and the Followers of Arjuna, the Hindu holy order. If you look back at the picture of Kirtivarma above, you'll see that he had about 300 piety - more than enough to hire a holy order. Since we're Buddhist and he's Hindu, the FoA will fight us.

However, I missed the fact that the bottom count was higher than the top count, so I thought he had mysterious boosted his levies.



Ramapala calls in his allies, but they feel the war is none of their business. Mysteriously, the mercenaries and holy warriors of Kirtivarma are nowhere to be found. Ramapala thanks the Buddha for his good fortune and sends his armies forward.

I was fairly alarmed by the amount of troops Kirtivarma had, so I called in all the allies I could. I generally only call in my allies when I really need them, as your allies HATE it when you call them in, just you don't like it when King Whathisname calls you into a war that's halfway across the continent. None of them showed up. And yes, I never found those extra troops. I guess Kirtivarma couldn't afford them after all.



The Chandela army is crushed and Ramapala begins the long process of sieging Kirtivarma's holdings. One of Kirivarma's courtiers is captured. Ramapala is disappointed it's not a Raj or a Thikur. Or perhaps even Kirtivarma himself.

If you look in the bottom right corner, you'll see my war score has gone up to 50% - we're well on our way to victory now.

During battles, your troops may capture or kill enemy courtiers and nobles. Capturing nobility is great, as you can ransom them for a hefty chunk of change. Capturing the ruler (king, emperor, head honcho) will give you 100% warscore.

We outnumber the garrison by more than 10 to 1, and the main army is annihilated, so we assault the garrison. I should also mention I run archer and heavy infantry intensive retinues, so my retinues can assault at 3 to 1 odds. It's more than just them though, so I need to be a little more cautious.

Another handy tip is to go for the ruler's provinces. When you declare war on a ruler, he will raise all his levies, leaving only his garrisons to defend his holdings. This makes them much easier to assault. His vassals, for whatever reason, can have both garrison and levy defend their provinces, so go for them last. If the vassals have the designated warscore province, then you should probably go for that early. But since we're going for the entire kingdom, we can pick whatever province we want to go after.



Ramapala is not the only one at war - the southern kingdom of Kalyani Chalukya is also ablaze. And the rebels appear to be winning.



Ramapala's son and heir Vigrahapala comes of age. He is a master of diplomacy and statesmanship.



Sadly, the once sociable young boy has become a shy young man. Not only that, the boy has become a Hindu. However, Vigrahapala is a greater warrior and diplomat than his father and a competent schemer.

Vigrahapala . Why did you go and lose Gregarious? His tutor appears to have replaced it with Shy (-2 diplomacy). You can't get everything in life. However, since we're Buddhist, if one of our sons turns out to be better than Vigrahapala, we can just make them the heir.

And yes, just because Vigrahapala has become a Hindu doesn't mean we can't replace him. WE'RE Buddhist, so he can take a hike if the situation requires so.



Ramapala looks back over his decisions and wonders if he should simply do whatever he wants, since he is the king.



But Ramapala realizes that he must treat all with respect and uphold the law. For that is Dharma.

Go Ramapala! Just is an excellent trait and makes life easier for us all around. If I've used the term "Dharma" incorrectly, please inform me.



It is a time of celebration, as the heir to the Pala kingdom is married. Money from all around the country is collected to pay for the ceremony. Sadly, Ramapala cannot attend his son's wedding, as he has more pressing matters.

At this point, I have plenty of prestige, so I gather up some money instead.



A granddaughter is born to Ramapala and the old man smiles.

Hopefully I'll be able to get the little girl to inherit her daddy's claim on the Chola Kingdom down south.



Shivanarayan comes of age and like his brother he is a master of diplomacy.



However, he is a deceitful, proud, envious, ambitious, and gluttonous young man - a better schemer and steward than his brother, but a worse warrior.

Wow, you got hit with a lot of the Seven Deadly Sins, didn't you, Shivanarayan? Deceitful (-2 diplomacy, +3 intrigue) and Envious (-1 diplomacy, +2 to intrigue, -15 liege opinion) are good traits for spymasters but not for diplomats. (Disclaimer: Deceitful is not one of the SDS. The SDS are traits with a red background.)

Ambitious (+2 to all stats, -50 liege opinion) is a good trait for heirs, but not for vassals. Ambitious vassals will 19 0f 20 times be trouble. For comparison, ambitious vassals hate you more than someone whose mother you killed hates you.

He also has the Proud trait (+.5 prestige per month), which for us kings is not worth much. For Indian rulers, Humble (+1 piety per month) is much more useful, for it also allows us to use subjugation wars that much sooner.

I've made an arrow pointing to a little crown on the top right corner of Shivanarayan's portrait. By clicking this button, we can make Shivanarayan the heir and he will inherit all of our titles. We can do this as many times as we want. Current heir not up to par? Switch to someone else! Another heir married to someone with much better claims? Switch to them! This is by far the most useful ability of Buddhists and Jains.



Bam! I make him the heir, just like that. Vigrahapala won't like it, but he's unlanded, so he can just sit there and sulk. I also have Shivanarayan betrothed.



The inevitable comes and Ramapala claims victory. Not only has he claimed the kingdom of Kosala, but all of those under its rule. The former maharaja, now raja Kirtivarma, is now a broken old man.

We've won. The title is ours as is everyone who was under it. Claiming a kingdom via subjugation gives the subjugated vassals a special "Sujugated" opinion bonus towards their conqueror, allowing you to jack up the crown law or make whatever changes you need.



This was us before.



This is us now.

We're not the only ones expanding, it seems. It looks like Malwa's expanded, as have the Solankis. Poor Soomra.



Bhavashankari comes of age. Unfortunately, any economic education she received has blown right over her.

Indulgent Wastrel is the worst stewardship trait, giving -1 diplomacy and +1 stewardship.



While she may have been a poor learner, she is not a poor woman. Just, humble, brave, and kind, Bhavashankari would have made a fine wife had she fully learned from tutor. But she seems content with her lot in life.

Bhavashankari's got stutter (-2 diplomacy), which is a genetic trait and can be inherited. However, stutter can also be gained through childhood events. Shame she didn't get Midas Touched.



Ramapala increases his authority in Kosala and the conquered vassals have almost no will to resist. Looking at the inheritance, Ramapala wonders what happened to Simone Drengot.

We increase crown authority to Medium in Kosala. This means that the vassals can no longer fight each other. You should always jack crown authority to High to get Primogeniture, than move back to Medium so your vassals don't hate you as much.

Since these vassals were subjugated, they are a bit more willing than usual to approve of me. Those that don't can be bribed.



Vina comes of age and is a skilled user of plots and schemes.

Finally, a name that's easy to spell. Intricate Webweaver is the second best Intrigue education, giving +1 diplomacy and martial, -1 to stewardship, and +6 to intrigue.



Vina is competent in all the arts of the ruler, but she is an especially skilled schemer and scholar. While a just and temperate woman, she is ambitious, envious, and wrathful.

Vina is decent all the way round. We see a new trait, Temperate, which gives +2 stewardship.



Ramapala informs the Kalinga Ganga Raj that he's going to pay him a visit. The Raj whimpers.

More de jure claims, more wars.



During the war, Ramapala receives the worst news he's had in ages. His firstborn son, Vigrahapala, has died.



Bhogavati comes of age and like her brothers she is a master diplomat.



Having a quick mind, Bhogavati is a kind and humble young woman, though perhaps a bit of an overeater. She bears the scars of a childhood accident, gaining her prestige in the eyes of her peers.

Looks like one of my concubines was able to pass on their genes. Bhogavati has the Kind traits, which gives +2 diplomacy and -2 intrigue. It also gives you a vassal opinion boost of ten. Very good for rulers.



Having crushed the main army, Ramapala directs his forces to finish off the stragglers.

I bring this picture for the highlighted part. During gameplay, you may see a province whose borders glow more brightly than the rest when you're at war. This is your wargoal province and is worth more warscore.

As long as the enemy controls the wargoal, they will accumualate warscore, so you should take it out when you can. (Obviously)



Vina bears a child.



The Kalinga Ganga Raj (As Ramapala calls him, for he can't remember his name) surrenders and more land is added to the Pala Kingdom.

Since I pressed a de jure claim of a vassal, he will love me. Pressing a claim gives +100 opinion, so do so when you can.



Another son, Narendranarayan comes of age. He did not get as much out of his education as his other siblings, but he learned a fair amount.

Narendranarayan is a Charismatic Negotiator, the third best diplomacy education. It's not as good as Grey Eminence, but it's still pretty good.



Narendranarayan is a coward, but he is charitable, social, and honest. He is also the greatest diplomat of all the brothers, but the worst warrior.

Narendranarayan is an excellent diplomat, but he's terrible in almost everything else. He also has Craven, which in my opinion is one of worst traits you can get. Craven subtracts two martial and gives your vassals a -10 malus towards you. Charitable gives us +3 diplomacy.



He is betrothed to a young princess of the Kalyani Chalukya kingdom. She is a strong young woman, but dislikes physical contact.

There are two things to note about our little princess.

First, she has the Strong trait, which boosts her health, fertility, martial, diplomacy, and attraction. Very nice.

Second, she has a claim (which I've pointed to) on the Kalyani Chalukya kingdom, a weak one to specific. CapnAndy has already gone over claims, but for a quick refreshers, you can only push weak claims if there is a claim war already going on, the ruler is a woman and the claimant is a male, or if there is a regency. If we were to push her claim, her children would inherit the kingdom. If her husband was - nope, I won't spoil it.



Ramapala feels a little inadequate compared to his peers. It seems he is simply not the most skilled at everything.



However, he remembers that he is Maharaja of three kingdoms and victor of many wars. He doesn't have to be better than everyone else.

Yay! We get the Kind trait!



Ramapala's son Ramapala comes of age. Ramapala wonders what he was thinking when he named his son Ramapala.



Kanchani comes of age and unlike her sister, she learned much from her tutor.

If you're wondering why I'm not posting pictures of their stats, it's because I don't have them, unfortunately. You're probably tired of them anyways.



Ramapala has still got it and his wife's pregnant again.

This is what I meant by a limit of ten children. Once I hit that number, I didn't get any pregnancies until one of my kids dropped dead.



Ramapala celebrates by declaring war on the Cedi kingdom.



Nine months later, Devavati gives birth to a daughter.

Not shown, many grandchildren and another child being born. I'll give a list at the end.



To make things safe for the succession, Ramapala starts a scheme to have a rival of his son's murdered.

Getting rid of your heir's rivals can be a good thing, considering they might do something like having all of your grandchildren murdered. Seriously.

By the way, our poor target is screwed. Over 500% chance, sheesh.



Manava dies, but something troubles Ramapala.

It's been troubling him for a long time. He was supposed to be a kind and just king, but his reign has been one of war and bloodshed. He just killed a young man whose only crime was that he didn't like his son.

He waged all those wars against the Cedis and Kalingas for what? The right to say "this parcel of dirt is mine?" For his own amusement? Ramapala is disgusted with himself.

He never loved the tiger hunts and the falconry brought him no pleasure. Violence might have brought him some temporary amusement, but it never made him happy. Neither did gaining all that land. What did make him happy?

It was his family, taking care of his subject, knowing that he would protect them. That is what made him happy.

No more violence. He rejects the teachings of the Buddha. Instead, he embraces a creed whose central tenant is non-violence and peace.



He becomes a Jain.

Our first conversion! Jainism is a very powerful religion when it comes to holding a realm together. The picture explains a lot about the religion, but let's go a little in-depth.
1. Jains get a +30 general opinion boost. Seriously. Everyone will love you for being a Jain. This is absolutely huge and the main reason why you want to be a Jain. If your realm looks like it's going to fall apart, consider switching to Jainism.
2. Jains get a +3 increase to their demesne size, in case the above wasn't enough.
3. Jains don't care about caste traits.
4. Like Buddhists, they can choose any of their offspring to be the next heir.
5. They gain +1 piety per month when they're at peace.
6. Event choices which involve violence (like allowing someone to duel) will cause you to lose piety.
7. They cannot do tiger hunts.
8. They cannot declare holy wars.
9. Jain vassals don't get the "short reign" opinion malus towards their liege.
10. They do care if their liege is a woman though, unlike Buddhists.
11. We can still declare subjugation wars and all other kinds of wars.
12. We can still have people murdered and do other violent things.
13. They do not get ambitions to get rid of negative traits, unlike Buddhists.

Of course, the real reason I had him convert was to get rid of his +1 health he gained for following Vajrayana Buddhism. Ramapala's done all I need him to do and it's time for him to die and let his heir take the throne.

And one more thing, if you have the Zealous trait (+2 martial, +1 piety per month), you can't convert like this. And we can only do this once in a ruler's lifetime.



He calls all of sons together and says:

"My sons, I've lived a long life. I have fought many wars. I have had many children. I have saved many lives. But the first one never brought me joy. That was a lesson it took me a long time to learn. Some of you may think that greatness is found in conquest or in war. But that is a lie. A truly great man is one who the people can look up to. The one who the people can rely. The one whose mere existence makes life better for his fellow man."

He looks at Narendranarayan. "My son, you are not a warrior. But that is alright. Some are called to defend. But some are called to lead. You are not a coward anymore. Some think that cowardice is only a matter of the battlefield. But there are many cowards, even among those who achieve great deeds on the battlefield. The true cowards of this world are those who yield to evil because the right path is too difficult to walk. The ones who kill innocents because they fear their master's wrath. The ones who refuse to stand up for the weak for fear of losing the approval of the strong.

"My son, you are a strong man and a master of words and persuasion, not of bloodshed. I name you my heir."

He addresses all of his sons again. "My sons, bring peace to India."

They leave the palace, each pondering their father's words.

Of course, the real reason I made Narendranarayan the heir was his wife's claim. Pushing that claim and allowing Narendranarayan's sons to inherit will greatly cut back the time we need to conquer India, especially considering Indo-Aryans like us can't subjugate the Dravidians down south. Besides, any stat deficiencies can be made up with ambitions.

And it appears that Narendranarayan got rid of his Craven trait via ambition. Good on him.



None thinks more deeply than Narendranarayan. As he looks at his newborn son, Narendranarayan knows that it was easy for his father to say that words and persuasions were greater than swords. Ramapala had long ago demonstrated his strength. His words were backed up with legions of soldiers. Narendranarayan knew from experience that words are nothing unless you had the strength to back them up.

He would bring peace to India. But only someone like the Samrat Chakravartin Ashoka could bring peace. And the only way to become Samrat Chrakravartin was to conquer.

He looks down at his son. His son has inherited his wife's strength. Good. He'll need that strength.

Narendranarayan's son looks pretty good. Getting Strong was very fortunate for him.



Months pass, and Ramapala gives up his spirit.

The heir, Narendranarayan is called to the capital. Hesteps up to the throne. A crown is placed on his head. The people bow to him. A voice cries out "Hail, Maharaja Narendranarayan!"

The crowds responds "Hail the Maharaja!"

Narendranarayan smiles. There was a lot of work to do.

Next time: Narendranarayan is a very bad Jain.