Lets play Crusader Kings as a Pagan

[curry]

Game: Crusader Kings + Deus Vult Expansion

Mods: DVIP, various graphics improvement mods, Pagan and Muslim unlocker mod, marriage mod (which allows me to breed Pagan courtiers since they are scarce)

Rules: Iron Man. I'm allowed to reload only if the game crashes which it does quite often. Since I'm playing as a Pagan, I expect this to be a short one.

Goal: To survive. Pagans are weak and it's usually only a matter of time until the Christians kill them off.

Starting date: Hastings (1066) (the earliest of the 3 possible starting dates)


The purpose of this LP is to show people what the game is about so feel free to ask anything about the game.

 

[curry]

Lets get started

I start my game as Sarunas of Yatvyagi, the High Chief of Yatvingians and Chief of Scalovia, Sudovia and Yatyagi.

As you can see I have a bunch of heirs because my Succession Law is currently Elective which means the most powerful vassal will inherit me.

Unfortunately that means the end of my Dynasty if the most powerful vassal isn't part of my Dynasty.

I'll have to change my succession law from Elective to Salic Primogeniture and produce a legitimate heir, but more about that later.

The position of my tiny realm is troublesome as I'm neighbours with both the Kingdom of Poland and the Principality of Polotsk - both aggressive towards Pagans.

There are three different types of religion in Crusader Kings: Christians (Catholic and Orthodox), Muslims (Sunni and Shia) and Pagans.
Rulers are allowed to declare war on rulers of different religion without penalties which means there is very little I can do if one of my powerful neighbours decides to grab my lands early.

Luckily I'm also neighbours with a bunch of weak Pagan nations which I have to conquer fast to become able to defend myself against the filthy Christians.

 

[curry]

About the Laws, the Cabinet and Marriage

Changing the Succession Law automatically gives everyone in the line for inheritance a legitimate claim to your titles so it's best to do it before I have landed vassals.
Otherwise they might rebel against me to try to grab a title from me. I change my law from Elective to Salic Primogeniture which means that the oldest male child will inherit all titles.

Now it's time to take a look at my cabinet. I don't have any extra courtiers so I can't really choose my advisors at this point.
There are 5 advisors and the primary stats of the these advisors are added to the rulers stats:

- The Chancellor's primary stat is Diplomacy. It affects how effective my diplomatic actions are and how quickly I reduce my infamy after wars.

- The Steward is in charge of the economy and his Stewardship affects directly the income.

- The Marshal is in charge of the troops and his Martial stat will affect how big armies the ruler can raise.

- The Spy Master can assassinate enemy rulers and protect the ruler against assassination attempts.

- The Diocese Bishop is for Christians only. Since I'm a Pagan, I don't need one.

Good news. The Chief of Danzig - a fellow Pagan ruler - accepted my humble marriage proposal and my ruler now has a wife. Hopefully the marriage
will be fruitful and produce a legitimate heir. Both Sarunas and his wife are young so there is a good chance that there will be plenty of male children.

I also received an opportunity to choose between being Honest and Deceitful. I chose the Honest path because no one likes deceitful rulers, right?

 

[Hoodoo]

I predict a short but entertaining LP, God Wotan-Speed



also some quick questions:

what do diocese bishops do if yr a christian? What stats affect your relationship with the pope?

 

[Norfleet]

Otherwise they might rebel against me to try to grab a title from me. I change my law from Elective to Salic Primogeniture which means that the oldest male child will inherit all titles.

Meh. Why would you do that, though? Salic Primo is one of the worst succession laws in the game, since it gives you absolutely no real control over it. Even Elective is better, possibly the best, since it's very easy to manipulate the succcessor: You can be succeeded by anyone in your dynasty, of your choice, since you can just give your chosen successor as much stuff as necessary to make sure they're first, so if, say, a distant cousin has the best stats, you can elect him. SP is awful, because your first-born will be your oldest, thus guaranteeing a very short reign almost in perpetuity, as you will be inherited by an heir with the shortest time remaining. What's more, you have NO choice, short of having him assassinated, a very risky move (Kinslayer is AWFUL), over who gets to be It. If your firstborn has terrible stats and is an utter loser, and your next one is the Kwisatz Haderach...you're screwed. This can be entirely avoided under Elective, or at least Salic Consang, both of which are processes that you can manipulate to favor your chosen successor. In fact, you won't even really need to manipulate SC most of the time, the game is predisposed to choosing your best successor.

The next part may be a little too gamey for you, but if OTHER nations (Byz) have Elective, and you are not a Kingdom-level title yourself, you can jack their succession process by offering yourself as a vassal once you have significant holdings, whereupon you arei mmediately the most powerful and therefore are elected upon the death of the old king.

 

[curry]

I predict a short but entertaining LP, God Wotan-Speed
also some quick questions:

what do diocese bishops do if yr a christian? What stats affect your relationship with the pope?

Diocese Bishops don't do anything because Pagans and Muslims are unplayable without a mod. If you're a Christian, it affects mostly events AFAIK. If you don't have one, you'll get an event pretty much forcing you to have one.

The Pope is actually just unplayable Kingdom-level ruler. There is always a Papal Controller who is the ruler with the most Piety on the previous PC's dead (as far as I know). The Papal Controller gets to Excommunicate other rulers using the Pope's prestige; the Pope must have more prestige than the target has piety and then loses the prestige. Other than that the Pope is not connected to the Papal Events or Crusading mechanics.

Meh. Why would you do that, though? Salic Primo is one of the worst succession laws in the game, since it gives you absolutely no real control over it. Even Elective is better, possibly the best, since it's very easy to manipulate the succcessor: You can be succeeded by anyone in your dynasty, of your choice, since you can just give your chosen successor as much stuff as necessary to make sure they're first, so if, say, a distant cousin has the best stats, you can elect him.

I have to disagree. Elective Succession and Semisalic Consanguinity are bad because they cause huge loyalty hits when the ruler dies resulting in civil wars.

The next part may be a little too gamey for you, but if OTHER nations (Byz) have Elective, and you are not a Kingdom-level title yourself, you can jack their succession process by offering yourself as a vassal once you have significant holdings, whereupon you arei mmediately the most powerful and therefore are elected upon the death of the old king.

Yes, it's too gamey for me. The Tribe of Cuman is a King-level Pagan nation with Elective Law but I'm not going to do it.

 

[curry]

Diplomatic Maneuvers and WAR

As I fear being attacked by one of my greedy and evil Christian neighbours, I decide I need to annex one of my weaker neighbours
to give me a fighting chance in the inevitable future wars. I have two weak single-province neighbours: the Pagan Chiefdoms of Podlasie and Galindia.

I use some of my Prestige to lay a claim on their tiny pieces of land.

I also get informed that a Thieves Guild is now terrorizing my beloved Scalovia!
This bad because I could really use all the gold I can hoard in my upcoming invasion of Podlasie.

As I declare war on the Chiefdom of Galindia, I in turn get declared war on by the nefarious Tribe of Prussians.
I have much larger army than Galindia but I'm not sure if I can take on the combined armies of my enemies - I'll have to annex Galindia fast
and then try to make peace with the Prussians. Hopefully no one else will take advantage of this unfortunate situation and declare war.

 

[curry]

The Fall of Galindia and Sarunas

I am victorious in the first battle against my filthy enemies! They are easily crushed by my much larger army and I now beging besieging the castle of Galindia.
Unfortunately the Prussians attacked my realm from the North and are now besieging Scalovia. The Galindians try to offer a small amount of gold for peace
but I turn their offer down. I'm after their land, not their gold!

I also got myself a new Marshal; a nobleman proved himself in combat and joined my court. He has much greater Martial skill
than my current Marshal which should make the war a bit easier for me.

The Galindias launch an desperate counter attack against my superior forces and something unexpected happens:
the great High Chief Sarunas of Yatvyagi gets killed in combat and is succeeded by Arunas of Yatvyagi, a male relative.
Fortunately the change of leadership doesn't harm my realm's stability or cause any problems.

Arunas inherits not only Sarunas' titles but also his claims - so the war goes on.

I finally manage to capture Galindia and force them to surrender. Unfortunately Scalovia falls to the Prussians and their army moves to besiege my capital Sudovia.

 

[curry]

Mercenaries

After forcing the Chief of Galindia to give me his Chiefdom, I launch an attack on the Prussian army in my capital - but to my great surprise I lose and retreat.

I can't believe my army lost the fight.

Then something unexpected happens - I gain two opportunities to hire mercenaries and go for it although they are extremely expensive.
With these mercenaries at my disposal I quickly defeat the Prussian army. Unfortunately I don't have any claims on them
and they don't have any gold which means I must accept a white peace with them.

The war turned out to be far more expensive than I expected and I am now heavily in debt. I expanded my realm from 3 to 4 provinces though.

 

[Hoodoo]

jaysis, -600 gonna take awhile to work yourself out of. Being a pagan and all, will piety even matter for you?

 

[curry]

jaysis, -600 gonna take awhile to work yourself out of. Being a pagan and all, will piety even matter for you?

No, piety is pretty much useless, with the exception of piety-triggered events. Piety protects Christians against excommunication and that's practically all there is to it.

-600 isn't that bad because there's still neighbours to rob and events... Hopefully

 

[Cassidy]

You can always get a loan from the Jews.

Just don't bitch later if they start demanding austerity measures.

 

[Fens]

this is just going to end in tears, isn't it ?

 

[curry]

Lets take a look at who is who

Laying claim on the Chiefdom of Podlasie turned out to be a mistake because while I was fighting Galindia and the Prussians,
Podlasie pledged allegiance to the Prince of Kiev and is now their vassal. I still have the claim but there's no way I can win that war.

I don't have enough prestige to lay claims on other rulers either. It looks like I'm going to have to wait until I get more prestige or
Podlasie declares independence again.

Meanwhile, lets take a look what's going on in Europe and Middle East.

South of my border lies the land of potatos, or the Kingdom of Poland as the Christians call it. It is ruled by King Boleslaw Piast
who has foolishly turned down my offers of alliance. I don't have the slightest doubt that he is planning an unjust invasion!

In the West lies the Kingdom of Denmark, ruled by the King Svend Estridson Knytling. I see a rival ruler of his has manipulated
the Pope into Excommunicating him. Excommunication is bad because it makes the ruler unable to inherit and allows rival rulers
to lay claims at very low prestige cost. Hopefully someone will declare war on the Danish before they can launch a Crusade against me and my fellow Pagans.

Lets take a look what's going on around the Mediterranean. The Empire of Byzantium has elected a new Emperor,
the young Mikhael Doukas, and to everyone's surprise the succession didn't cause the Empire to break into pieces.

They are fighting the mighty Empire of Seljuk Turks and only time will tell who will win.

 

[Hoodoo]

With piety not being that big of a deal, I wonder if a viable strat would be just to assasinate as many key Christian Kings as you can. Especially Germany. The clusterfuck that would result from all the dukes scabbling for power would leave you a p Pagan

 

[curry]

Good news

Finally the construction of a Royal Post in Sudovia has been finished. The Royal Post is a great investment because it increases burgher loyalty allowing me to tax them more.
There's a large number of different improvements that can be built although most of them must be unlocked first by researching the appropriate technology.

I receive great news that the wife of High Chief Arunas has finally given birth to a heir! The newborn son is named Traidenis
and is luckily Lithuanian by culture. The wife is not Lithuanian which means there's always a small chance that the child has the mother's culture
instead of the father's. But in this case we have a real bundle of joy.

And as you can see, I've gone even deeper in debt. Who needs money anyway.

I think I'm done for tonight. Feel free to post questions or suggest a course of action.

 

[curry]

With piety not being that big of a deal, I wonder if a viable strat would be just to assasinate as many key Christian Kings as you can. Especially Germany. The clusterfuck that would result from all the dukes scabbling for power would leave you a p Pagan

It's just way too expensive. An assassination attempt of a King would cost +500 gold and it's not guaranteed to succeed.

this is just going to end in tears, isn't it ?

yes

 

[Hoodoo]

How far into debt can you go before your kingdom just falls to peices? Must be getting some p heinous events

 

[curry]

How far into debt can you go before your kingdom just falls to peices? Must be getting some p heinous events

I'm not sure if there's a limit. I've been like 5k in debt as the King of Sicily. The events are fucking nasty but it doesn't end the game.

 

[Norfleet]

I have to disagree. Elective Succession and Semisalic Consanguinity are bad because they cause huge loyalty hits when the ruler dies resulting in civil wars.

I have never seen this to be a problem. After all, Byz didn't manage to detonate explosively, and if they can manage it, I'm sure any drawbacks are completely manageable. Plus, under SC, the ruler dies CONSTANTLY, because you're always inherited by someone who is himself an old geezer, who quickly carks it after a brief reign of only several years unless your first ruler manages to bite it fairly quickly. Not only is the constantly-dying ruler a real pain in the neck, but you'd be eating your allegedly smaller loyalty hit constantly.

 

[Fafnir]

High Piety also reduced your infamy(BB) faster.

 

[curry]

Choices and Consequences

While plotting my next move against my neighbours, I suddenly receive an offer of alliance from the very same Tribe of Prussians I just fought in a war!

After contemplating the offer for a while, I decide to accept the offer because I can have only one alliance at a time
and it's unlikely that one of the big neighbours such as Poland would accept an alliance offer from me.

The Prussians are a realm of 3 provinces - weak but not entirely useless. I don't plan on helping them if they get attacked though.

Not much is going in the North, but there's plenty of a action in Arunas' life.

First the Chief of Sambia - a vassal of High Chief of Prussians - insults Arunas in an outrageous manner. I'm not going to let it go.
Instead, I demand a compensation and receive a claim on his title of Chief without having to spend prestige.

Soon after this Arunas encounters a beautiful shepherdess on his daily walk in the forest and seduces her.
This encounter results in a Bastard named Jogaila being born (yes, Bastards are born immediately...)

Oh no! Being broke finally hits Arunas in the face.

We are unable to maintain our Hill Fort in Yatvyagi and have to sell it. We get 75 gold for it but that's not much given how much we are in debt.
Rebuilding the Fort will eventually cost us a whopping 200 gold.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Bastards truly are wonderful creatures.

 

[curry]

Traits and characteristics

Me and my neighbours are still at peace although I suspect this will change soon. So far the Kingdom of Poland and
Principality of Polotsk haven't taken out any of their neighbouring Pagans - it's not typical behaviour for bloodthristy Christians!

A lot of stuff has happened in the court, though.

News have arrived that Maija is expecting her second child. If it is a boy, there's a very good chance that Arunas will actually be succeeded by a son of his.

Arunas has also gained a few additional traits as the result of things that have happened to him in the court.
At the moment he is a Misguided Warrior, Romantic, Valorous, Just and Lustful. Traits affect the character's stats, fertility,
health, the amount of prestige and piety generated, capability to inherit and relations with other characters.
Luckily Arunas has only desirable traits, with the exception of Misguided Warrior, which is the result of botched Military Education.

Not everyone can be a Brilliant Strategist, though.

Oh no, it looks like our realm is plagued by epidemic diseases! I had to choose between paying a hefty sum of 150 gold
or suffering various undesirable consequences. I decided to pay. Who am I kidding, I can't pay my debt in many years anyway.

It is time to decide how the Bastard son Jogaila will be raised. I can choose between raising him myself, or having him raised
by either the nannies, the monks or a nobleman. I decide have him raised by our Pagan monks which should make him a modest child.

When he gets older I will have to decide how he will be educated, but we'll talk about that later.

 

[curry]

War... War never changes

Arunas is truly blessed, his third child is born and it's a baby boy named Songaila!
The Succession is pretty much secure now so it's time for a celebration!

We have been waiting for too long time since our last war; it's time to start planning an invasion.
After all, it's better to make the first move and not just wait to get attacked.

We have a claim on both the Chiefdom of Podlasie and Chiefdom of Sambia. The Chief of Podlasie is a vassal of the powerful
Prince of Kiev which means our mighty warriors would probably get slaughtered before you know it. The Chief of Sambia,
on the other hand, is a vassal of our dear friend High Chief of Prussians who will join the war on their side.

Luckily the Prussians don't have any claims on us, which means we should quickly conquer Sambia and make peace with the Prussians.

I decide to raise all my troops and assemble the Army in Scalovia, right next to my target Sambia...

As expected, the Tribe of Prussians declares war on us after we declare war on their vassal. I order my mighty army, lead by Arunas himself, to invade Sambia.