Completed It's God's Will! Let's rule as the Imperium Romaniae!

[RK47]

Kaidan - King of Kings

Spoiler

Realizing that his father's power came from the retinue and liege levies under his command, Emperor Kaidan moves quickly to create smaller kingdoms to gather their power.

His fourth son, Geraud will be the King of Portugal.

Elsewhere, Duchies were formed and given away to secure the loyalties of other kings.

In return, their massive levy will bolster the assault on Iberia.

The Muslims broke under massive assault.

They are outnumbered, outgunned and without hope.

The Duchy of Leon is formed. This will serve as a foundation for the Kingdom of Leon.

The Duchess of Nikea, the once daughter of the Byzantine Basileus will be granted Leon.
Why? Because her heir is properly Frankish and is of our own house.

Kaidan's daughter is ready t marry. But there's not many suitable Princes out there. I suppose we can start a breeding program for military officer.

William, the Prince of England (without any claim to his name) agress to a matrilineal marriage.

The Muslims crumble.

While alliances beg for help.

The Pope needs a gentle reminder not to mingle with rebellious vassal.

More Muslims to the slaughter, the Empire will never stop until the whole Iberia is cleansed and reclaimed in the name of the Cross.

Elsewhere, the remnants of the Ayyubid Empire stands on the brink of extinction as the Ilkhanate delivers another defeat.

The Twilight of the Muslim Kingdoms is near. For none can stop the rise of Kaidan.

 

[Fafnir]

 

[RK47]

Return to the Holy Land

Spoiler

Unexpected, one of the Princes died young.

King Geraud of Portugal could not overcome his illness and passed away at the age of 21. He is without heir.

Realizing that he has no choice, the Emperor granted his eldest son, Hawke II another Kingdom. Now he controls most of Iberia.

As a truce is declared with the Iberian Muslims, the Latins are forced to engage a different foe.

This time, the Kingdom of Aragon will lose a part of their territory.

They were no match to the Grey Knights.

Elsewhere, the Emperor is greeted with an unexpected news, his late son's widow, Ida, gave birth to a male heir.

A pity he is late to this world, for the title has slipped from his grasp.

Aragon surrenders. And the Emperor decides he had seen enough of Iberia for now. He does not desire to push down into Mali, for such a secluded demesne would only invite trouble. There's enough fractions at home.

Another Greek duke is misbehaving, plotting to place a Greek onto the Byzantine throne.

Punishment is swift. He will never see the light of the day.

As the Grey Knights return to Italy, the Emperor sets his sight upon the infamous merchants of Venice.

Too long they've hold territories that are rightfully ours.

More sad news back home, his Chancellor, the charismatic King Theodotos of Bulgaria passed away.

The stress of maintaining relations with the many vassals of the Empire proved too much for the 35-year old.

The Knights land unopposed in Venice.

Moving quickly, the Emperor betrothed his daughter to the new King of Bulgaria. This would prove crucial in cementing future ties and ensuring the lad would grow up properly Frankish.

The boy king is given additional land as well to secure his loyalty.

As things died down, the Emperor sets his sight upon the fragmented kingdom of Jerusalem.

Famagusta, the other county of Cyprus should be rightfully his.

They too, stood no chance against the massive Knights retinue.

The titular Kingdom of Cyprus is formed as the Emperor seeks to retake Jerusalem, piece by piece.

 

[RK47]

I will take everything

Spoiler

Kaidan's ambitions continue to grow, as he appeases every vassal-king he has by taking every single scrap of backwater land he could find.

The other half of Krete, is owned by the King of Jerusalem. This will not stand.

South of France, Provence is taken.

Resistance is futile.

More intrigue in the Byzantine court, but the Emperor will play no part in this tomfoolery.

An alliance with Poland is arranged. Prince Hawke, his half-brother will marry the Queen of Poland.

But the true ambition of Kaidan is to rule the Holy Empire.

Feeling that the time is right, he executes his plan.

What kind of a Holy Emperor is excommunicated? His vassals will now plunge their dagger upon his back.

Alas. Those fools could not execute the plot! His weak claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire is still invalid for there is too many successor in line ahead of Kaidan.

Realizing that he needs to pass the time, the Emperor declares a grand hunt.

He overcame his fear.

Yet the beast wounded him.

But it will not take his ambition away, during the winter feast, he gave a grand toast to the greatest Empire Europe has ever seen. To the large cheer of his audience, he declares that he will recreate Rome at all costs.

A new year arrived. And it finally happened.

His claim will not be denied, through stroke of luck or chance, a successor has passed, and his claim upon the Holy Empire is now cleared. Deus Vult!

There is no turning back!

 

[RK47]

The Holy Latin Empire

Spoiler

7 March 1322
The Latin Empire embarks on its most ambitious conquest ever. The Holy Roman Empire.

Rome, Hungary, Sicily, Iberia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia...

Two empires clash. The Roman borders are weak from complacency. The Latins have been gearing themselves up to raise Kaidan the Konfessor to the holiest throne in Europe.

Death to the false defender of the Emperor!

The Latin offense is split into three. The eastern forces made up of a massive vassal-liege levy. While Rome will push onward from Latium. The forces in Provence will see the most battle as the Roman Empire chose to send a 38,000 strong army to meet them head on.

The outnumbered Provence force held their ground as they await reinforcements.

More blood will be spilled in Savoy as the conflict begins in earnest.

The Emperor, all too aware of the please of the Provence Army, dig deep into his coffers and summon mercenaries from Constantinople.

Meanwhile, the Provence army successfully repelled the enemy forces, inflicting heavy casualty. A pursuit was called to finish off the survivors.

However, the pursuit turns awry as they met an every stronger levy from the Roman north.

Not many expected Emperor Kaidan to remarry when his wife died, but I guess he just wanted the alliance with the Swedish king.

Unfortunately the King is a coward.

Back to war then.

The arrival of the mercs will change the tide of battle.

As the last major battle is over, all that is left is to wait for the good news from the Eastern front.

Stronghold after stronghold falls to the onslaught of the Latin army.

May 1324
There can only be one empire in Europe.

 

[Tigranes]

God, that looks like micromanaging hell. You could easily paint the entire map if you chose, but why not Old Gods it?

 

[RK47]

God, that looks like micromanaging hell. You could easily paint the entire map if you chose, but why not Old Gods it?

Micromanagement isn't an issue with the Kingdom slicing throughout the Empire cake trick. I'm sick and tired of replaying from the small stages. I've made it big. And I will not stop till I take over the whole fucking world before my time is up.

Here are the lessons I've learned over this game and 300 hours + playing CK2

1. Pyramid Empire - Stop thinking like an executive, Steve. Be a manager.
Pleasing a king with 10 dukes is easier than pleasing 10 dukes.
Gifting him a county is already a +40-80 relations depending on the size of that county.
I'm definitely slicing HRE cake up later. 5 Kingdoms down there. Just find a Frankish dude to take over, excommunicate his German subjects one by one and imprison them so they cannot overthrow. If they reject, conquer, imprison, revoke. Tadaa. No more foreign dukes in my Holy Empire.

2. Culture Change and why removing kebab is as simple as tutoring it away from young.
Serbian King's heir isn't even Serbian anymore. He's frankish due to being tutored by the Frankish Pope. Keep an eye on heirs. If it's female, consider marrying one of your dynasty male to them so the successor will be your dynasty. As long as you keep tabs on their heirs tutelage, it's a simple matter of turning them into your culture and avoid the revolt faction / -20 foreigner penalty.

3. Dealing with Faction - Or - Mine is bigger than yours.
Keep conquering to gift stuff to them, that'll keep their loyalty up. Even the Arpad descendant who hated me changed her tune when I made her the Queen of Leon, AFTER she agreed to marry one of my grandsons. Now the next King of Leon is of MY house and of Frankish descent.
Send spies only to King-vassals with huge armies to dissuade them from taking up factions membership.
Keep increasing your retinue to maintain higher army strength than factions - this is how a large empire maintain stability.
Anything below 20% can be ignored. They can never hope to match Empire level of retinue - stop spamming Knight retinue once the Knights reach 30,000 - it's a waste of money and manpower. Get cheap skirmish / defense retinues instead to keep the Army strength % higher and higher - creating an army strength that will require at least 2-3 kingdom to be in the same faction to work together (that is if they don't get excommunicated. Tehee.)

4. Stop fighting for small gains - think big, your Duke-dom days are over. You're an Emperor. Think like one!
Instead, aim to take big chunks to make the most of your time as the Emperor. The larger the prize, the bigger cake slices you can gift away, and the Empire remains happy.
Fight battles with your retinue - they are your elite force once they beat the standing army, move on. While the vassal-levied guardsman are there to throw their bodies at the walls of the Enemy's stronghold. The faster they die/win a battle, the less angrier your vassal will be from raised levy. Win Win. If there are no more battles to fight, send your retinue to siege the stronghold, awaiting the guardsman levies to arrive and deliver the assault phase.

Sometimes you don't even need to fight a war to expand, your vassals just need the right incentive to do it for you. See what title you can usurp and award to your appropriate vassals. If you feel they have the strength to take the de jure territories, grant them that title and some gold - they'll get it done themselves. Nothing like watching your Duke of Alexandria wipe out the Emirates of Cairo on their own. I don't have to deal with those 10-20k supply limits on my own. Faggots.

5. If you are dead, no one would remember your misdeeds. So go crazy. Remember, you can't play Empire Management in the afterlife.
Consider breaking truces when you are 60+ to get shit done. Your successor wouldn't have to deal with the political fallout (a flaw of the game).
Feel free to excommunicate, imprison potential troublemakers, execute, swallow up Republics once you're 60+. Unless you're Emperor Hawke I who lived up to the ripe age of 74. That might backfire.

If you feel your current elderly liege is a dead weight and you want to let his younger heir to ascend asap, assassinate a rich liege. If you succeed, ok. If you fail and get exposed, they will retaliate and counter-assassinate. Pray they succeed. You're dead. Yay.

6. Bad heirs - Here, have a church AND FIGHT FOR GOD!
Turning heirs into Bishops remove them from succession. A bloodless, handy way to mess around with succession laws and prevent shit heirs from getting anything.
Also, if they're really unwanted, put them under the tutelage of Brilliant Strategists and send them on battles. All the. Fucking. Time. If they win, good, if they die, they die in God's name.
Good shit.

 

[SCO]

Thinking like a Justinian