Post your CK2 empire!

[CyberForte]

Fairly happy with this game... Started as the Strategos of Trebizond in 769 with the intention of going east, reviving Zoroastrianism, and forming Greek Persia in a very Alexander-inspired fashion, hence the renaming my dynasty. This was the character after the one who was the first emperor (though I had to repeatedly decline commander positions or it would've easily ended up just another Byzantine game... Kind of hilariously easy to get elected if you're a competent Greek Orthodox general. XD)

I already had the 80% of Persia necessary to become emperor when I finally broke free, on this character's father, so he managed to restore the Sassanid borders and become Saoshyant. Ironically, Zoroastrianism was still a Manichean heresy at that point, but we've since flipped it back to the orthodoxy. Both islams are sitting at 0% moral authority because the Caliphate collapsed to a decadence revolt after they attacked the Basileus and I joined the way to fight them off. I ate all the scraps in Persia, while he coptic christians seized on the chance to take over most of Arabia. In time, I'll probably finish taking the Levant myself, and maybe do a reverse Alexander and invade Greece. First use of my invasion bloodline was to just push Byzantium out of Anatolia entirely.

Ironically enough, Tryphon's grandmother was an orthodox saint. Her zealots occasionally come bother me during holy wars now that I've left christianity behind... He still gets the extra +30% against religious enemies, though. XD

Also, I feel that the Persian crowns is the best of the unique ones:

Well, I guess the Imperial Diadem is better for the +4 stewardship, but it loses a lot of points for becoming useless if you reform Rome. >_>; [Ignore that relic of my christian days XD]

And they may not be the Theodosian Walls yet, but one day they'll definitely eclipse Constantinople!

There's a strong temptation to just civilize the whole damn Steppe to stop these damn constant nomadic hosts, though, I swear you have to fight 10 a year when you rule Persia. They tend to spawn next to my capital, so I just keep my retinue there. 8k mixed Cavalry and Cataphracts can generally wipe out any host in two battles.

 

[QieRa]

not really an uber blob, i am not sure what i want to do this run so my target initially just control all of africa, but then the romans and catholics doing too well. The romans almost restore their border by taking back egypt, syria, and iraq, while the knight order of sardinia takes most of northern africa.

Took me 300 years + timely jihad to break their hold over africa, but while the knight mostly gone, the romans still control syria and iraq, They are primary threat to my empire so i decide offense is the best defense and systematically conquer their province until they were contained in anatolia, but then they have the audacity to expand to the steppe. Took some times to undone their expansion to the steppe + conquer their eastern front

in the meantime, i declare jihad in india, and build 2 great works, and took others great work for myself, i control 7 great works, house of wisdom, alexandria light house, a grand palace in estafan, masssoleum of halicarnassus, grand wall in my capital, grand fortress in county next to my capital, and petra. i also in possesion of khufu pyramid which i raze and a statue of indian ruler which i am not sure what to do with

now the most powerful threat my empire face would be the holy roman empire, i am not sure how to handle them and there are only around 60 years left

 

[erneiz_hyde]

Look upon this abomination:

Started as the Sheikh of Tinmallal, on Marrakech. I pillaged every single county I got to the last holding and rebuilt a tribe holding, though there were small Saharan counties where this was impossible. Eventually, one of my characters became Grand Master of the Assassin's order. Luckily, the Shia Caliph accepted my recruitment into the Order. I vassalised him immediately, revoked him and everyone under him and pillaged everything.

I then proceeded to Invade Abbasids, twice now, on Egypt and Arabia. I needed to invade Arabia to recreate the Shia caliphate I destroyed. The Invasion of Arabia was a hairy business. Absolutely everyone was at war with me since I was at 100% threat almost constantly, so it's mostly a race to siege enough holding to peace out asap. But this time, my army was starting to take a beatdown due to the overwhelming number of enemies. Just as I lost 2 major engagements, I was ready to call white peace, but I was surprised that the Abbasid Caliphate is at "we were beaten" and is willing to surrender despite my war score just dropping to around 30%. I suppose I did aim specifically for the Abbasid army and ping-ponged them around, but the tooltip says the war score barely tipped after a ton of battle, I suppose the tooltip was lying then?

Anyway, after that, my first grandmaster died and I play my current character in the screen shot. I pillaged everything, but I overstretched it a little and poor planning on my part made a part of Anatolia managed to break free (this area I got from the previous Shia Caliphate I vassalized) but this was a blessing because my threat dropped instantly from 100% to 40% so I just chilled a bit, reinforcing my retinues and creating new ones. And now, my character just became the Grand Master again, hopefully I can recruit an interesting ruler to the order and swallow them whole like I did before.

 

[WJS]

Not a great empire by any shot, but I'm loving this character.

A beautiful, pregnant woman, who can singlehandedly run down and capture the king of the largest, scariest pagan kingdom in the world. Even though she's been caught being a secret Cathar.

 

[RenevB]

I've run out of interest to continue this game. I initiallly thought I would mop up the Horn of Africa with a GHW maybe a normal Holy War or two, but then I messed up by going raiding in a county with the plague. Ruler got sick, died. The kid who inherited ended up as a content diplomat and since I like to rolepay at least a bit, I'm not going to go ahead with that.

Other highlights of the game include:
A mostly Waldensian Byzantium, though there was also a periode when Francia was Orthodox.
Abbasids were generally big threat at whose revolts I nibbled constantly until they just exploded from decadence.
There's a large, but ultimately extermely bordergory Francia-Carpathia.
Mongol Empire formed by Mongols from on the map. Timurids were succesful (but of course fairly late in the game, when I had already lost interest), see the pic below.
Norse Norway-Sweden with African religion.
Dealing with the Papal duchy wars was more annoying than anything else.

And here's Timur:

 

[Larva]

So I decided to took on challenge proclaimed by Dan in one of PDX streams (the one, where 'Hagia Sophia was not so important until it became mosque' ) - start as Kolguev and build the fully upgraded pyramid there.
I probably did this in easy mode (since I actually expanded - I dunno what he meant by 'you can never leave Kolugev' - if one can do this without ANY expansion...that would be a godlike achievement for sure), but I still feel good for this and wanna share a bit with everyone

To summarize the run: my plan was to become king, convert/reform, form MR, stay average in size and build-build-build. Since you can only build pyramids ass Egyptian, lunatic or reformed with specific doctrine, AND you need shittons of money to build pyramids - I decided to reform (using Seafaring doctrine gives ability to raid efficiently, having pyramid builders one giving more space in terms of rulers - not making each and every one lunatic) with Unyielding/Autocephalous. To reform I had to get 3 holy sites thus had to expand more than I would probably liked, but oh well. In the final, I ended up as a custom empire of Nenetsia, Novgorod, Finland and Vladimir, while my vassals went on rampage absorbing A LOT of land. In the end it all paid up, since HRE formed and punched me hard one time, so all those extra troops helped.

Aaand couple of shots.

As you can see, it took me 200 years to build, and overall 310 years from start to finish those pyramids. They have a beast, smaller pyramids, hidden room, lime stones, overseer of rites, road tolls, watchtowers and retinue. I got new slot two times before getting another one with wonder. Kolguev is quite a place in this alternate history

To the right is my Religiously Liberated tribal tributary. King vassals of Finland, Novgorod and Vladimir ended up eating Chernigov, Lapland, Estonia, Sweden, partitioned by de-jure shift Lithuania and other small lands here and there. No GHW was called by my Tietaja for some reason (I assume Autocephalous still blocks GHW, even this it's not explicitly stated?)

The world is a fine view. HRE is strong - it that they just experienced inheritance with some revolts in there. Byzantium exists, but only a shadow. Several decadence revolts shook the Muslim world like this
Umayyads are true Phoenix children - they outlived two decadence revolts actually and still kicking. Nasrid are actually Shia Caliphs and having fun. Germany created by one of HRE dudes and got split inheritance to Nibelungs (or how they are called...). Tibet shattered, Pala migrated. Alba and Deccan empires formed.

Funny, how Alba is mostly Cathar with sprinkles of other heresies. Bulgaria actually converted as a defense against Crusade for Thrace after they eat eat from Byz.

Overall run was a success and fun. Playing in Nenetsia is ... painful to say the least Supply limit is 1k everywhere, 1 slot provinces give you almost nothing, raids are faaaaar away, any revolt in capital can be deadly (I actually lost one run due to peasant revolt in capital taking over since I can't really do anything with it on that island).

 

[junassa]

So I did a 1067ish Kanem run:

I used mods (duh) so I probably did better than I normally would have. I had SB + Daring, so before getting to 50 realm size I declared war (prepared invasion) on Fatimid, then declared GHW on Almoravid. Aztecs showed up and then tried to attack everyone in sight (well, except for me). While they were busy fighting the pope I did a great conquest for Badajoz. Eventually the Teutonic Order launched a crusade against the Aztecs and gained some land in Scandinavia. Aztecs decided to fight the Pope for a second time, so while the Catholic world was busy with them I crusaded for England.

One of these days I'm going to play as Christian again.

 

[Dakilla TM]

So I did a 1067ish Kanem run:
View attachment 478199

I used mods (duh) so I probably did better than I normally would have. I had SB + Daring, so before getting to 50 realm size I declared war (prepared invasion) on Fatimid, then declared GHW on Almoravid. Aztecs showed up and then tried to attack everyone in sight (well, except for me). While they were busy fighting the pope I did a great conquest for Badajoz. Eventually the Teutonic Order launched a crusade against the Aztecs and gained some land in Scandinavia. Aztecs decided to fight the Pope for a second time, so while the Catholic world was busy with them I crusaded for England.

One of these days I'm going to play as Christian again.

The main thing that bugs me about playing as Mali/Kanem is that the borders will look super wonky, which means the name placement will be wild. I sort of restrict my self to Subsaharan Africa.

 

[QieRa]

The main thing that bugs me about playing as Mali/Kanem is that the borders will look super wonky, which means the name placement will be wild. I sort of restrict my self to Subsaharan Africa.

or keep conquering until it stopped look wonky

hmmm.... nevermind, it is still look wonky

 

[GSS_]

My CK2 empire ? The Holy Roman Empire of course !

 

[Fitzjacob]

My CK2 empire ? The Holy Roman Empire of course !

Wow, you even timed the date just right. Are you going to simulate the fall and subsequent division of the realm too?

 

[GSS_]

Wow, you even timed the date just right. Are you going to simulate the fall and subsequent division of the realm too?

Well, that's more difficult. Sadly, this was from an old save and isn't compatible anymore with the current version of the game.

 

[Big Byzantine Blob]

Started as Duke of Mercia 1066, enforced claim on Navarra, and went onwards from there.

 

[RenevB]

I feel finished with this 3.0.1 Zunbil game.
Empire of the Sun and Papal Mache achieved. Didn't quite get to Family First.
Realm map view of my Empire below, with a world map in the attached image.

I thiink it was a quite standard Zunbil game, conquering your holy sites, going secretly Sunni for a while. Then I got pretty lucky that the Abbasids imploded from decadence pretty early and I just went on from there. As to what to play next, I have yet to look at 936, but there are also some achievements I 'need' to hunt next, like Aladdin or Heathenous ways.

 

[Sunshine Moon]

From my recent AAR, my custom Empire of Greece, formed by cutting the heart out of the ERE:

I also held the Aztec Empire title, which was a bizarre experience, but those event troops enabled me to defeat three crusades. And they had good reason to do crusades at me...

Reformed Hellenism into a state of unyielding autonomous enatic benevolence. The Pope was not pleased, but the Aztecs seemed fine with it.

It was also fun seeing the Mongols and Timurids bring Buddhism and Hinduism respectively waaaay far to the west.

 

[Aerotinge]

My little pretty Empire with dynasty CoA as title flag. Carantania CoA really complements Croatia flag.

It's not a mod but vanilla. I simply claim and grab a title from a Horse Lord.
However the flag does not fit it with normal empire shield emblem layout. As all rebels title do.
What's a pity.

 

[WJS]

Salaam, and welcome to Antioch, the Gateway of the East!

All the wonders of China come to Antioch, and the markets here are unparalleled! All merchants and travelers are welcome and safe in Antioch!

It is all guided by the wise and good counsel of our sultan, Shuayb the Benevolent!

His family came to Antioch from Crete, having pushed back the infidels in Cyprus, and the infidels in a rebellion in the city. No, he is not a conqueror. He has been happy to stay where he is, and focus on turning Antioch into the greatest city of splendors, returning it to its majesty from empires long past! Why, aside from some farmland to feed the city and establishing an outpost on Malta, he has been satisfied to grow no more!

What, you have heard that pirates on the Mediterranean raid your homes while you sleep? Yes, such misfortunes do occur, but fear not, for anything you may have lost, you will find in Antioch!

(Also, using a Christian CoA in a Muslim realm does make for a cool capital look.)

 

[WJS]

Quick update:

The Children's Crusade marched on Jerusalem, but they only targeted a small Ikhshidid revolt. The Crusade won, leaving a tiny city-state of children. So, I made it a tributary state. Then the Pope called for a crusade for the entire kingdom, won, and handed it to the present Catholic King of Jerusalem, my tributary. And so...

Thanks, Pope!

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

My Empire of Kemet.

Coptic culture, Miaphysite, Capital in Alexandria. Started in the Iron Century Bookmark and gained Egypt through a secret cult. The amount of income I'm getting is ridiculous- like 85 a month.

Management has been really simple too, I've only had one rebellion and that was at the genesis of Kemet, so it's been pretty peaceful. I'm really annoyed that the Sunnis only have a single holy site and have lost their most recent jihad and are still floating at around 60 MA... I'm at a loss at what to do to destroy their MA at this point.

 

[Ksiendzu]

My Empire of Kemet.

Coptic culture, Miaphysite, Capital in Alexandria. Started in the Iron Century Bookmark and gained Egypt through a secret cult. The amount of income I'm getting is ridiculous- like 85 a month.

Management has been really simple too, I've only had one rebellion and that was at the genesis of Kemet, so it's been pretty peaceful. I'm really annoyed that the Sunnis only have a single holy site and have lost their most recent jihad and are still floating at around 60 MA... I'm at a loss at what to do to destroy their MA at this point.
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Nice map mod! Can you tell me what it is?