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India Tutorial
State of the World
We've been looking at India for the last two generations. Now it's time we saw what's going in the rest of the world.
Years ago, Rayan's father Naren sent a group of spies to scout out the west for any potential threats to India. After much hardship and toil, they have returned to Rayan at his camp. Here is what they found.
The lands immediately to the west of India are a bloodbath. Kings come and go, no one holding onto power long enough to solidify control.
Kanvarpala, the Raja sent to govern the Solankis' new conquests in Zabulistan, has proven to be a complete failure. His entire realm is controlled by Sunni rebels, who have chafed under their Hindu overlords for too long. Only the power of the Solanki army has stopped them from claiming victory, but it is only a matter of time before the Solankis deem Zabulistan a lost cause and abandon it.
Rayan is pleased to hear that the Buddhists have made a home for themselves among the Balids after years of persecution under the heathens. While never a Buddhist himself, he has Buddhist friends and had Buddhist teachers growing up. Sadly, the nation is in the grip of a civil war and Rayan fears it will be easy prey for the heathens to seize.
The great heathen nation of the Seljuks has split into several kingdoms and Rayan's spies assure him that they will not be a problem. Apparently these heathens worship one god, Allah. Rayan wonders why anyone would worship one god when you could have several, but there is no arguing with the foolishness of heathens.
Eventually, this land will be pacified, but the ancestors of the two men who will do so are very different. The first is Rayan. The other is tending to his herds in the steppes far to the north.
The Middle East is, to put it lightly, a complete mess. With the collapse of the Seljuks and the Ghaznavids, it's one big free for all for any power who wants some land. I believe the Seljuks were hit by a decandance revolt, an independence revolt, and a claim revolt, and they've been reduced to a single province or two. Don't count on Tekin to unify the area - it's going to get mulched by liberation and religious revolts.
The area today occupied by the various Stans (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, etc.) is filled with a variety of different religions and ethnicity, all of whom hate each other. Pretty every time it looks like someone has the upper hand, another power stabs them in the back or a revolt pops up and grabs some territory.
The Solankis are going to lose the land that's occupied, but the next guys aren't going to hold onto it for very long.
The Balids are a Buddhist nation and Dashaowuz is Zorastrian. Bear in mind the Balids are also in the midst of a revolt.
Here's a fun little game for you - can you spot Rum? I didn't notice it until I'd studied the picture for awhile.
A more worrying find is the great heathen nation of the Fatimids. While they are far away from India, Rayan's spies report that they are rapidly seizing the lands lost by the Seljuks.
Meanwhile, the nations of Ethiopia cower in fear as the Fatimids slowly turn their gaze towards them.
In most of my games, the Fatimids are the HRE of the Muslim world - a big blob that gobbles everything up. Unless they're hit by a decadence revolt. In that case, they'll split up, and then grab their territory again.
One of the weird quirks of the 1066-1081 starts is that because big Shia blobs control most of the Holy Sites (and the Shia and the Sunni share most of their holy sites), the Sunni dwindle into a small minority among a sea of heretics.
"Where is Manava?" asked Rayan.
"Sick, sir," said one of the other spies. "Said he stuck his snake into the wrong wells."
"His what?"
"I have no idea. Must have been an idiom he picked up."
"Do you at least have his report?"
"Says here that the Africans are 'Yazidi' and these 'Almoravids' are 'Sunni'."
"Any idea what those are?"
"Different brands of heathen."
"Of course."
"It also said that the Malians are beginning to unify their part of the land and the Almoravids appear to be ignoring them."
"Alright then. Dharen, your report."
"Sir, there are a whole bunch of heathens in this "Hispania" place."
"I gathered. Do they like each other?"
"If by 'like' you mean 'hate each other with a burning passion', then yes."
"Could you be more specific?"
"Well, there's a different type of heathen involved here. You've got these guys in the south who are 'Muslims', the kind of heathen we're familiar with. The other kind is a 'Christian'. Apparently they worship some guy who said he was the incarnation of a god."
"So? There's someone just down the street who says he's a god, what's the big deal?"
"Apparently the Muslims think it's blasphemous and the Christians think the Muslims are guided by an evil deity."
"And they kill each other over it?"
"Yes sir."
Rayan rolled his eyes.
"Who are the big players?"
"Well the Christian kingdoms are united in their hatred of the Muslims and have been driving them out of the peninsula for over a century. The Abbadids are fairly strong, but their dynasty is corrupt and decadent, and there is talk of a revolution."
This is a pretty typical picture of Spain. The Christian kingdoms expand and expand until they hit the southern part and then the Muslim start pushing back. The Muslims usually aren't driven out until the Pope calls a Crusade on Andalusia.
And when I said the Abbadids are corrupt, I meant it. They'll have 86 decadence in about 10 years.
"Someshvara, your turn."
"My lord, I bring you news of a massive heathen empire, larger than anything we've ever known. They call it the Holy Roman Empire and they have an army so massive it would take all of India to defeat it. Next to them is a kingdom known as 'France', which appears to have split several times in the past. A small kingdom known as 'Brittany' borders it."
"Why has Brittany not been swallowed up."
"I do not know, my lord, but these Catholics put great stock in claims and inheritance. The subjugation wars which you and your fathers have waged are completely unknown to them."
That is the Holy Roman Blob. It's the most powerful empire in the world currently (Though a united India will beat it) and it would take the Mongol Hordes to defeat its armies. One of the chief rules of CKII is "What the HRE wants, the HRE gets".
France has a tendency to split into France and Aquitaine due to Gavelkind or claim wars. Either that, or the HRE comes along and nabs some territory.
"Mulraja, you're next".
The man in question answers, but he does so in a language no one can understand.
"My apologies, my lord" says another of his spies. "Mulraja has forgotten how to speak Bengali, but fortunately he managed to write his report before he completely forgot it."
"Read it."
"I'll give you a summary. There are a few islands to the north of France and most of it has been united under the kingdom of 'Scotland' which has taken control of 'England'. To the west, various rajas fight over the island of 'Ireland'."
"They love their 'lands', don't they?"
"Yes, they do, but it appears that the raja of Munster and the Thakur of Oriel are beginning to unite the island under their control, though at the time of writing Munster was having a revolt."
"Interesting."
10 years later, Munster will take control of Desmond and begin its conquest of the Isle of Ireland. Eventually, they will become the rulers of the kingdom of Ireland. Connacht will be swallowed by Ulster and Munster.
As to how England came under Scottish control, that took a little detective work. First, it all starts with this guy:
King Malcolm III of Scotland. To his right are the kings of England.
One of Malcolm's wives was Margaret Eadwarddohtor, the granddaughter of this guy:
King Eadmund II "Ironside" of England
Margaret and Malcolm had a child: Ethelred. I assume that using his great-grandfather's claim, Ethelred was able to raise an claim host to take the throne of England from the Norman usurpers.
However, Malcolm had a child before Ethelred: Duncan
Duncan died before taking the throne, so the crown passed to King Matthew. Matthew died of Syphilis, so the crown of Scotland passed to this guy:
Duncan II. However, Ethelred had children of his own:
James "Half-hand". However, James must have been maimed during his childhood, so at the age of 16 he died. But the line of succession was Agnatic, meaning only males could inherit. This meant that the crown had to passed to his nearest relative: Duncan II.
If you look at the red arrow, you'll see that the day James died and the day Duncan got the crown are the same day, meaning Duncan must have inherited it. The black arrow is pointing to the History button, which brings up that box in the middle.
Now Scotland and England are ruled by a Scottish king: Archibald. To be honest, these pictures were taken during the 1160's, but the timeline is the same.
That's enough of that, let's move on to the next part.
"Somaditya, your turn. And why are you wearing a loincloth?"
"My lord, the lands of the north are bitter cold. After experiencing such frost, I feel no need to put on more clothing than I need.
"Right. What else can you tell me?"
"The Maharaja of Norway is a powerful man and he is intruding upon the land of the Maharaja of Sweden. Norway extends from the frozen island of Iceland to the northern parts of Scotland. There is yet another kind of heathen in these lands, known as the Norse. While in ages past they were the terror of the West, today, they are a pathetic remnant of themselves. To their east lie a multitude of yet more pagans."
Ah the Norse. In the Old Gods start these guys are fairly broken, but now they consist of Norrland, Angermanland, and Sampi. I think Angermanland is the coolest name in the game.
"What's your report, Balinarayan?"
"Even more heathens, my lord."
"Just how many different kinds of heathen are there, anyways?"
"At least four in the lands I was sent to find. Catholics you know of, but there is a different kind of Christian here as well: the 'Orthodox'."
"What makes them different?"
"As far as I can tell it's political, but they get along better than the Shia and the Sunnis. The Orthodox control the land of Rus, which has been forged through bloody conquest. A dynasty known as the Rurikids has been fighting over the land and one of them has unified it into Rus. Mostly it as a barrier between the other heathens and the Christians. Poland and Hungary are Catholic and serve as a second barrier. There is a small group of heathen tribes to the north of Poland and the west of Rus. My belief is that it is only a matter of time before they are swallowed up."
At the 1066-1081 starts, Rus starts as a bunch of Rurikid controlled nations, all of whom will fight each other for claims and such. However, attacking any of them will start the Rurikid clown car and you'll be dogpiled by several nations. But they aren't very strong and even combined they aren't enough to stop a large empire.
Over the course of this LP, Rus will split into Ruthenia and Rus via Gavelkind and they'll fight for each others' kingdom. The Pechenegs have mostly been swallowed by Hungary (seriously, if you play as Hungary, they're great to beat up for piety and territory).
Pomerania will soon be Catholic as a result of a Crusade.
"Bhairabendranarayan, you're next."
"While my comrades were freezing their legs off in the north, I got to visit the Roman Empire. Despite their setbacks a few decades ago, they have been able to regain control of their territory and more. The once great nation of Rum has been reduced to a rump state, ready to be wiped out at the Romans' leisure. A nation of merchants known as Pisa has taken control of a small part of the former empire. Once these Byzantines were Orthodox, but now they follow the priest in Rome."
Somehow the Byzantines became Catholic. Again. That's how they been able to join in on Crusades.
You know what's weird? I've never seen an independence revolt rock the Byzantine Empire. Do they get a special privilege or something?
"Are all the great powers of the West Christian or Muslim? Their gods must be mighty."
"My lord," says the last spy, "There is one power that does not follow the ways of the Christians and the Muslims. The Cumans have taken control over much of the northern steppes and even now they threaten the kingdom of Rus. They are even beginning to encroach on the territory of the Balids."
"Well, it's unlikely that another steppe tribe will come pouring out into the civilized world. Thank you, all of you. I will look over your reports in detail later. Go rest. You deserve it."
The one great power that likely to form in 1066-1081 starts that isn't Abrahamic or Indian is Cumania. While not as powerful as the Fatimids, Byzantines, or the HRE (Heck, even Rus could be fight them off), they do like preying on weakened powers and have a tendency to reform Tengrism.
Bolghar has somehow become Muslim. When Pagan and Zoroastrian powers are being attacked in holy wars by the "organized" religions, they can convert to save their nations. Sometimes this can set off a civil war as the followers of the old gods refuse to bow to a heathen king.
Next Time: Emperor Ascendent