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Hello there! Today we are going to talk about some of the remaining rulers (you know, that are neither Christian nor Muslim) you can find in the Iron Century bookmark.

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The situation in the rest of the world.

Eirik Bloodaxe: Previous king of Norway, known for murdering his brothers. He was pushed out by the Norwegian nobility and replaced by Hakon the Good (see the Dev Diary about Recommended Rulers). Situated in the northern stretches of Scotland with his army and fleet, Bloodaxe is in many ways posed to strike in any direction. Much like Haesteinn in the 867 bookmark, I am sure we will see some interesting Bloodaxe playthroughs not long after you guys get your hands on the bookmark.

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Lestek Piast of Poland: Forefather of more well known rulers such as Mieszko and Boleslav the Brave, he still plays an important role in the local Polish politics as one of the strongest rulers of the region. Though the Polish eventually turned to Christianity under Mieszko (which is actually alive as the grandson of Lestek in the bookmark, as is his father Siemomysl), who’s to say you can’t bring Poland into a more interesting turn of events? Bordering the other Slavic tribes, as well as Otto in the west and Bohemia in the south is sure to bring an interesting playthrough nonetheless.

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Gorm the Old of Denmark: At 59 years old, his nickname is certainly fitting. Father of the more well known ruler Harald ‘Bluetooth’, he is the king of Denmark in the bookmark. He borders some Swedish tribes on his eastern front in Scania (which is held by his bastard son Valtoke), and Otto of Germany to the south. His son Harald would later go on to rule both Denmark and partly Norway, after the death of the Norwegian king Harald Greycloak.

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Yngar/Igor of Kievan Rus: After the death of Rurik, Helge/Oleg expanded the influence of the kingdom and they are left with a massive kingdom from Holmgard/Novgorod in the north and all the way down to Kønugård/Kiev in the south. However, Yngvar/Igor is growing old and his hold over his vassals are tenuous at best. If peace and their loyalty can be secured, however, you sit with a potential powerhouse ready to take control of the eastern stretches of Europe. You only need to beat back the Pechenegs, the Khazars and every Russian vassal who look at you a bit shifty-eyed. I am sure it’ll be fine!

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Historically speaking, the 10th century is when you saw a proper shift towards Christianity across the map. The Russians turned to Orthodoxy, while the Scandinavian, Hungarian and Polish lords turned to Catholicism. But who ever accused us of having a historical game after you click the start button, right? Now then, to turn a bit eastwards.

Cao Yuande of the Guiyi: Cao Yuande is second ruler of Guiyi Circuit, having inherited his realm from his long ruling father Cao Yin. Guiyi is a small outpost of Han people, surrounded by nomads or stronger realms. Fortunately you start the game allied with the powerful kingdom of Khotan and the Uyghurs at your eastern border. It will be challenge, but turning your kingdom into an empire is not an impossible task.

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Khagan Deguang of the Liao Dynasty: Duguang, or Taizong, of the Liao became involved in Chinese internal strife during the Ten Kingdoms period. Eventually Taizong declared himself as emperor of China but was unable to keep his throne. With two other nomadic realms starting as their tributaries, the Liao dynasty is in a strong position to spread their influence across the map.

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Makan Kakinid of Dihistan: Makan was involved in various dynastic struggles in Tabaristan, always willing to fight anyone. Despite being defeated by the Ziyarids twice, he always managed to bounce back. Eventually Makan turned against his protectors, the Samanids, and was killed for his troubles. Perhaps you can be more succesful than the historical Makan?

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Tomorrow we'll go through some decisions and bloodlines added in The Iron Century. As well as the announcing the release date of the Bookmark.

And here's a link to the ongoing AAR: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...century-mini-aar.1179523/page-2#post-25485539
 
If there isn't a Gorm the Old bloodline for the legendary Jelling-Cnut the Great-Estrid dynasty, and a Rhodri Mawr bloodline for the House of Aberffraw, I will be sorely disappointed.

Gorm will probably start with Ragnar's bloodline, as he is a descendant of Sigurd Worm-Eye, son of Ragnar Lothbrok.
 
Igor of Kievan Rus: After the death of Rurik, Helge/Oleg expanded the influence of the kingdom and they are left with a massive kingdom from Holmgard/Novgorod in the north and all the way down to Kønugård/Kiev in the south. However, Yngvar/Igor is growing old and his hold over his vassals are tenuous at best.
First thing I notice is that there's no dynastic heir for this 61 year old man. A bit of a difficult start! :eek:
 
I am a bit sad Gorm the Old, who raised one of the Jelling stones, does not start with Jelling in his demesne. I guess this is just the old dejure logic rearing its head again? IE, putting his capital in Jelling would just result in him moving it to Sjælland after unpausing anyway.

At this time Gorm probably only ruled eastern Jutland and not all of Denmark, as it was Harald who "won" Denmark. Denmark should be divided at this starting point.
 
I'll try to switch the theme - what with Helgi/Oleg frame (on the picture with Igor). Are he feodal ruler? (With blue ribbon) or it is frame by default?
What vassals is there in Rus?

And one more - Will Yugra duchy have madyar culture? As far as I know they are the closest relatives.
 
Really interesting Dev Diaries this week and excited to play this new bookmark... I still miss some interesting African character to play with. Great work, btw!
 
AFAICR Bloodaxe was king of Jorvik for a while. Shouldn't he have some claims in that area to reflect that?
True Vikings don't need claims.
 
Sweet! We can finally recreate the Turkish conquests from start to finish (as Oghurz). Sounds fun! I hope an achievement for establishing the Seljiuq empire gets added at some point!
 
Vis-a-vis the Khitan, have you considered making them a hybrid portrait like the Hungarians? Whilst they were culturally sinicized, they were more closely related to the Mongols than the Han Chinese. Using the Mongol faces with Chinese clothing could be a good way to represent this?

Admittedly, given that the Mongol faces are quite outdated I can see why you might not want to, but it'd definitely be something to consider if you ever update them :D
 
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Khagan Deguang of the Liao Dynasty: Duguang, or Taizong, of the Liao became involved in Chinese internal strife during the Ten Kingdoms period. Eventually Taizong declared himself as emperor of China but was unable to keep his throne. With two other nomadic realms starting as their tributaries, the Liao dynasty is in a strong position to spread their influence across the map.

I assume this means China begins in a state of Civil War or at the very least Unrest? Perhaps you might find the time to create a new, scripted state called Ten Kingdoms that can only exist for a certain period of time beginning in the Iron Century start? The only other period in which China was so greatly fractured was during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, which ended 300 years before the Charlemagne start.

The reason I bring up possibly creating a new state in China is that there was actually economic growth in China during the period (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Dynasties_and_Ten_Kingdoms_period#Culture), which doesn't really match the Silk road value reduction that accompanies the Civil War state.
Another reason might be that you might alter Kowtowing to China during this period to be more similar to the Trade Route event chain that occurs with the Trader focus, since China did not have a clear emperor during this period. Perhaps those mercenaries that you have the option of paying for protection might actually help in securing said route? Maybe you might aid the kingdom that you secured a trade route with by sending troops to aid them against rival kingdoms (so as to not lose the acquired grace during the period)? If the kingdom that you chose to aid during the period ends up as emperor when the Ten Kingdoms state ends, your investment might turn into one of the rarer Chinese artifacts, or other special boons (a Commercial Contract seems very appropriate at the very least). I think this sort of change might really spice up playing non western characters. Finally, since China is fractured into multiple kingdoms, an attempt to install a dynasty member upon the Chinese throne might be a bit easier during this period (instead of hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in doom stacks, there might be several staggered waves of 30k-ish troops that each try to fight you off separately).
 
I am not the first to ask for this but could you please add baby Svyatoslav as Igor's of Rus heir? Starting as a 60 year old dude without a dynastic heir is very annoying and will lead to the abuse of seduction/hunting/concubines. Also Svyatoslav is much more interesting/important historically..